Knock, Knock
by ZuzuTrancy
Summary: After an unfortunate event, John Egbert moves in with his older sister and father. On the bright side, he finally get's to meet his cousin Jade's friends Dave and Rose. But, once he meets Dave he realizes that Dave is doing more than just building a wall between him and his friends. [Warning: contains sadstuck, pepsicola/JohnxDave, small yaoi/yuri fluff and high school drama].
1. Chapter 1: My New Home

**A.N. I do not own Homestuck or any of its characters, it belongs to Andrew Hussie. This is rated T for minor foul language. This will contain minor spoilers for the series (but this will happen rarely). [Warning: Contains Pepsicola (John Egbert/Dave Strider), sadstuck concepts (self harm and mentions of suicide), foul language, yaoi (fluff), and High School Drama].**

Chapter 1: My New Home

(September 27th)

The wind gently blew through my hair as I stood outside my house. My vision shifted between the road and the place I once called home. Pain slowly built up in my chest knowing the fact that it would be a very long time before I could return to this place.

This was the place where I grew up, and I've been here for as long as I could remember. This is the place where I first learned how to ride a bike, to cook, and learned how to perform my first trick.

I could feel a grin stretch across my face as I recalled all the glamorous times I had here. My hand slid down the outside walls, taking in every last detail I could. I looked through the window to view my old living room. The joy left my system when my eyes came in contact with the scene before me.

The once lively room, filled with color and laughter, was now silent; the furniture covered by thin, white sheets. It was just another reminder that no one would be living here anytime soon. I drew all of my strength to summon a small smile.

"Don't worry mom, when I'm old enough I promise I'll take care of the house like you used to," I whispered to myself.

I turned to face the road once again as I heard a car approaching. As I did, my ears heard the familiar sounds of a car horn blaring in my direction. A silver Toyota pulled into my driveway along with an unfamiliar truck. As soon as both cars stopped, Jane excited the driver's seat of the Toyota and ran over to me.

The two of us exchanged a small embrace before pulling apart. Her eyes were full of kindness as she gave me a light smile. "How are you doing, John?"

"Same as always, and you?" I grinned showing off my buck teeth. It was almost sickening how much I had to force the joy, pretending all the pain I was feeling did not exist.

The older girl matched my gleeful tone and smiled as well. "Oh nothing much, I hope you don't mind that I brought a few of my friends to help with the move." She turned to face the direction of the vehicles.

"That's Roxy," Jane gestured towards a blonde girl wearing a long purple scarf who was in the process of exiting Jane's car, she notice the two of us staring at her so in turn she gave a small smile and a wave. "And that's Dirk," Jane now gestured towards the blonde haired man exiting the driver side of the truck. His shirt screamed out _"there's still work that needs to be done, _ but his spiked hair and pointed glasses told that he was a cool and laid-back sort of man.

During the time that I spent paying attention to Jane's friends, I failed to notice a figure appear behind me. I suddenly felt 100 pounds heavier as someone jumped onto my back. I stumbled forward trying to regain my balance. "John!" I heard a familiar female voice practically yell happily into my ear. I chuckled slightly as I tried my best to turn my head towards her direction.

"Hey Jade, long time no see," I could feel my knees slowly buckling underneath me. "Mind uh- getting off of me?"

"Sure thing," I sighed in relief when I felt the extra weight leave my back. I turned to properly face my first cousin.

"So, does this mean Jake is here too?"

"That's right, mate." My vision once again shifted towards the direction of the truck. Where my British-sounding cousin was standing at…with Dirk's arm over his shoulder?

Apparently my confused thoughts were very visible because Jane giggled when she saw my expression. "Guess I forgot to tell you that Jake is dating Dirk," she managed to say between her laughs.

"Oh, cool" was all I was able to say. Don't get me wrong, the idea of Jake being gay isn't that much of a shocker; just more along the lines of the dork was able to actually be in a relationship.

The girl named Roxy rolled her eyes before speaking, "Janey this isn't the time for laughing. You're the one who said we had to hurry up to John's house so we could get this done as soon as possible."

"Jane finally calmed down and briefly stuck her tongue out towards the blonde.

"Oh shush, I was just about to go inside and get the boxes!" She turn towards me with the same caring look from before "Come on John, show us where you put your boxes!"

"Sure thing, sis," I felt a lump grow in my throat as I headed towards the door. I wrapped my hand against the cold doorknob, twisting slightly till the door opened. Taking a few steps inside, I raised my right arm to point towards a wall where the miniature mountain of boxes laid. "I placed all the boxes right there. Only one or two of them should be heavy."

The group of teenagers gathered into the house with small chatter amongst one another. I walked over towards the pile myself and picked up one of the smaller boxes. I walked out of the house and heard Jane begin to speak up.

"Hey John, just place the box in my car and-" There was a high pitch scream and a loud thump from inside the house. I quickly placed the box down onto the ground and rushed towards the noise to see what had happened.

Jane was three feet away from the door, frozen in place as she stared wide-eyed into the kitchen. I followed her gaze; her eyes had met with those of what looked like a black rat hiding at the corner of the doorframe. "J-John you have rats!" her voice was high pitched with fear.

"Holy crap! Don't worry, I got it!" I state as I barged towards the creature. I snatched the little creeper before anyone could stop me; holding it by its back legs as I stand up. "Shit."

"What?! Did it bite you?" Jane said. Her voice was panicked, and I had to resist every urge to not smile at her.

I turn to face them, hiding the rat from their vision. "It seems-" I fidgeted my arms slightly trying to get a solid hold "- it looks like I'm about to lose my grip. Oh, watch out Jane!" I yell tossing the rat towards my sister.

"She let out a ear-piercing squeal as she moved back from the flying object. The rat hit the floor and immediately everyone moved away from it. Jake ran forward to catch it before the rat had a chance to run away, but stopped once he got a closer look. He looked up at me and begins to laugh loudly; I quickly join him as I could no longer keep a straight face.

As the rest of them looked closer towards the rat, they realized it was nothing more than a fake Halloween decoration. Roxy and Jade laughed to themselves while Dirk shook his head lightly at the foolish situation. Jane was red in the face due to the embarrassment of falling for such a trick.

"John, that was such a mean joke!" Jane said, a blush still covering her cheeks.

"Sorry Jane thought I packed all of them up!" I explained honestly, looking at her with a grin. "Now if you excuse me, I'm going back to packing up my stuff." I said, absconding out the door before she could say anymore into the situation.

A little over ten minutes later, the six of us had filled both Jane's car and part of Dirk's truck with the boxes I was bringing. Jade and I went into the back seats of Jane's car, preparing for our departure.

"Are you excited to start school tomorrow?" She asked in her normal cheerful tone.

I shrugged. "Eh, can't be any worse than my old school. The only bright side is I finally get to meet the famous Striders you're always talking about."

"Whoa, did you say Strider?" Roxy asked as she climbed into the vehicle. "You shorties aren't talking about me, are ya?" She playfully winked towards our direction.

"I didn't know your last name was Strider." I looked back over to Jade, "Is she related to Dave and Rose?" Jade opened her mouth to respond but was interrupted by Roxy.

"Related? They're my lil bro and sis! And that's not all, Dirk is my brother."

"But wait, I thought you and Dirk were the same age." I looked into the eyes of my cousin as I hoped she would be the one to respond this time.

"They are, Roxy and Dirk are step siblings. Roxy's mom married Dirk's dad when the two of them where very young. The two then had Rose and Dave," Jade manage to say before Jane entered the vehicle. Once the older girl did, Roxy became distracted from her current conversation, so I turned my attention back to my lovely cousin.

"So you didn't answer me, do I get to meet the famous Strider's you're always talking about? Honestly Jade, I don't see why you didn't just give me their pesterchum accounts."

"Yeah, you get to meet them tomorrow, and I only didn't give you their account names because they rarely use them. Rose mostly Skype with people and Dave isn't much of a fan of pesterchum." She stated simply.

"Why is that?" I tilted my head in confusion.

Her face showed she was hesitant to tell me the answer, "Last year some kid used pesterchum to fake a few conversations with Dave and started some drama. The dude convinced Dave's girlfriend to leave him, and Dave's hated the site ever since. Ever since it happened he's been talking to fewer people, it's making me a little worried."

"That sucks." I began to stare out the window. I didn't realize Jane had started the car until now, and by the looks of it we were only 30 minutes from Dad's house. I gave Jade a half smile. "Well we both know my pranking skills can make almost anyone laugh. Maybe I can help him feel better."

"Hopefully," I barely heard Jade say under her breath as she watched the scenery move by.

"Yeah, Hopefully" I think to myself.

The rest of the car ride was quiet, the only noise was the purr of the engine and the faint sounds of the local radio station Roxy had switched on.

After what felt like only a few moments, the car pulled into my father's driveway. I stepped outside of the car and inspected the house. It had only been two months since my summer visit but it feels so long ago. The tire swing hanged from the tree, turning its position ever so slightly as the wind pushed passed it. The grass seemed freshly cut, unsurprisingly considering how much of a neat freak dad was, one of the few traits he shared with mom. I realized that dad was not home at the moment.

I was pulled out of my thoughts as I heard the back of Jane's Toyota being opened so we could retrieve my items. I rushed to help Jane and the others so we could get this over with quickly. I retrieved two of the smaller boxes, stacking them and began to enter the house

Taking a step in I felt the wooden floors creak beneath my feet. Looking around I released a sigh, clearly my father was still very much in love with clowns. Ignoring the contents in the living room I guided everyone towards my room. I was very familiar with what route to take; it was the same room I had used for the last 12 years whenever I would visit my father. It was the room located right across from Jane's.

Finally reaching my destination I placed the two boxes onto my bed. As the others started to pile in, I just told them to place the boxes onto the floor. It look a little longer getting all of the boxes into my room compared to piling them into the cars. All in all, it took us roughly 20 minutes.

At the end of unloading the boxes, Dirk conveniently received a call from work asking him to cover an afternoon shift for a co-worker. After receiving an okay from Jane and me, everyone agreed it would be easier if Dirk went ahead and dropped Roxy, Jake and Jade home on his way to work.

So after all the goodbyes were said and done, the house seemed empty with the lack of people. I decided this would be the perfect time to slip away to my room and begin to unpack.

I inspected my room in its current state. A dozen boxes occupied the area, all different sizes labeled with different materials. I walked over towards my closet and opened the door, I located the box labeled 'Shirts,' opening the cardboard cube I began to place the plastic hangers into the closet. In the corner of my eye I kept noticing the two boxes I had specifically left on top of my bed. After emptying the box of the hangers, I kicked the half-empty cube into the closet and closed the door.

I shuffled my way over towards the bed; once I sat down I placed the larger box into my lap. I slowly opened the lid and hold back the tears that I felt trying to escape. Inside the box was the authentic stuff-bunny from the movie Con-Air. Mom bought it for me for my thirteenth birthday because she knew how much I loved it.

With a shaky hand I placed the bunny beside me and reached for the smaller box. I took a deep breath and opened it as well. I wiped away the tears that had begun to roll down my cheeks.

It was a photo of Mom and me when I was five years old. We were at a Magician Convention and I was wearing a traditional Magician's outfit. She was kind enough to wear a fancy dress and pretend to be my assistant. It was one of the few conventions we had gone to before Jane had gotten into tricks as well. The photo was placed inside a hand-painted frame I made for her a week after we got the picture. It was blue and magician props such as hats, rabbits, and wands were poorly painted all around the photo.

I clenched the bunny with my left hand as hard as I could as I choked back a sob. She used to look so happy back then.

"Why did she stop smiling?" I muttered to myself. "Is it my fault?" I gritted my teeth as I tried to stop crying.

I placed the photo next to my alarm on my nightstand. Summoning all of the strength I could, I pulled myself off the bed and once again stared at the boxes. I sighed rubbing away the last few of the tears I had on my face. I then proceeded to spend the next half hour sloppily placing all of my pants and undergarments into their designated drawers in the dresser. I didn't bother to put away my pranking equipment or toys, figure future me could deal with that shit.

Exhausted, I dragged myself towards the living room where my sister was currently watching reruns from Castle. I plopped myself next to her and a small awkward silence grew between us, neither of us knowing what to say.

"You can change the channel if you want," Jane said trying to break the ice

"Nah, I don't mind this show." I stated with slight boredom.

After a moment of silence she spoke again. "Do you miss her?"

I did as best as I could to avoid looking her in the eyes. "What kind of question is that? She was our mom, of course I miss her," it was growing difficult to not allow my voice to show the pain I felt. "What about you?"

Out of the corner of my eye I saw her gaze shift towards her feet and she spoke barely over a whisper, "I missed her before she died."

The pain in my chest began to squeeze my heart and lungs making it difficult to breath. Jane had barely seen our mother in the last year, only a solid month at best, when totaled. "She was proud of you, ya know? Mom thought you were the perfect heir to dad's family company." I told her quietly. It was true; Mom knew that I would have zero interest in the business, but was also perfectly well aware of how much Jane loved it.

"Really?" Her face lit up with a mixture of joy and desperation as she stared at me.

"Mhm," I turned to face Jane and look her in the eyes, "So make sure to do your best and you'll make her proud."

I could see the tears preparing to escape Jane's eyes, but what I had not expected was the hug Jane pulled me into. I felt my shoulder grow damp as Jane began to cry into my shoulder.

"You too, d-don't forget t-to do your best and m-make her proud," her voice was shaking as she tried to get a grip on herself.

Once those words left her mouth I felt a sickening feeling in my stomach. Because what nobody knows is I already failed mom. I tried my hardest, and I failed her.

**A.N. If you have any questions please feel free to send me a private message. Some of you may have notice the date at the top, this is so you know when the event is happening. It has nothing to do when the chapter when typed or published (but if you're curious, it was typed and published April 7, 2015).**


	2. Chapter 2: Morning Madness

Chapter 2: Morning Madness

(September 28th)

I groan as the irritable sounds of the alarm clock blared inches away from my ear. I opened my eyes to glare at the obnoxious box, even with my blurred vision I could see the gross figure of the alarm. I slapped the alarm to shut it off. Feeling around the nightstand for a few seconds I managed to grab my glasses.

Now I could see clearly, I sat up on the edge of the bed and glanced down at the alarm clock. The time was clearly stated in bright red numbers, 5:30 AM. I shuffled across the floor towards my closet. Once I twisted the knob to open the door, I finally realize how lazy I was when I was unpacking yesterday.

The only things hanging in my closet where the white plastic hangers, looking down I located the open box labeled "Shirts." I bent down searching till I could find a specific shirt; I pulled out my favorite shirt.

Once I got dressed I walked out into the hallway and headed towards the direction of the bathroom. I then began the long process of making myself look decent able, including brush my teeth, putting on some deodorant, and styling my hair to perfection.

I let out a small sigh, "Honestly, there has to be a way to just wake up with your hair styled." I mumbled as I squeezed the creamy substance in my hair to keep the spikes in place.

After a solid hour of styling my hair I finally stepped out of the restroom. I reentered my bedroom, placed my back-pack onto my bed, and opened up a box labeled "Pranking." Inside the box I grabbed a roll of duct tape, bag of marbles, clear nail polish, air horn, and a small packet of fake blood. I then headed downstairs to meet up with my sister so that she could drive us to school.

The car ride itself wasn't all to glamorous, Jane was not use to having another in the car with her in the morning so she was a little unsure on what to talk about. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Jane open her mouth, but it looked as if she was hesitant on what she wanted to say.

"Are you excited for your first day of school?" She asked curiously as her focus remained on the road.

"For the most part, it gives me an excuse to use a lot of pranks I haven't done in a while," the joy was visible in my voice as I stared out the window. "Hey Jane, can you tell me a little bit about the school before we get up there?" I did my best to not show how nervous I was about going to an unfamiliar place.

"Well, for starters, you know the school is named Uma High School-"

"Uma? Who on earth would name a high school that?" I tilted my head at her.

She let out a small chuckle at my response, "That would be our school principle Mr. Hussie, due to his obsession with Horses he used the Japanese word for the animal to name the school. He claims it's because of all the Japanese students that we have at our school."

"Oh, well that makes a lot of sense. So what's he like?"

She narrowed her eyes as she stared straight ahead, "Scatterbrained, confusing, and very humorous. He's constantly changing the school year schedule and adding new events. Whenever he doesn't feel like coming to school he just calls in a 'code orange,' meaning all the teachers still get paid but nobody has to show."

"That sounds cool, what about the rest of the school?" I desired to learn as much as I could about this school as soon as possible, as well as avoid any topic changes to an undesirable subject.

"The school nurse's name is Doc Scratch; he's mostly friendly but constantly busy with someone. I'm only telling you this because you're bound to visit him a time or two considering how many fights and accidents happen at the school. The school food isn't terrible, and at lunch they serve sweets. We have a large library, and because of the FFA program we have a garden that students can go into. Also-oh, look at that! We're already here." Once the words left her mouth I looked up to see a large two story school.

Once the car pulled into the parking lot and came to a full stop, I took in a deep breath and stepped outside. I knew there was nothing to fear, it was just high school.

It would be just like my old school: full of pride, focusing on sports more than music, lots of drama, tests, etc. The only difference now is, I don't get to see my mom after school anymore.

'But with luck, I can make up for that by making new friends and playing good pranks.' I tell myself mentally.

Once Jane and I entered the building, I shoved my right hand into my pocket and pull out a folded up piece of paper. I undo the piece of paper and look at my schedule for the day. The paper told me that my first class of the day would be health class, which was located in the D-hallway.

I looked up to ask Jane where I would find the hallway; I jumped when I saw that Jade was two inches away from me looking at my schedule as well.

"Holy shit, Jade! Did you just teleport from thin air or something?" My blue eyes starred straight into her bright green ones.

"No, silly, I've been standing here waiting for you and Jane to show up! You're the one who almost walked straight into me," she smiled widely at me. "So do you need help getting to health class?" I gave her a nod and she grabbed my hand, dragging me towards a nearby hallway. I quickly shouted a goodbye to Jane before turning back to my cousin.

"So this is the D-hallway?" I asked very much puzzled.

"Yep, sure is!" She replied cheerfully. "And guess what John!"

"Uh...What, Jade?"

"You're going to be in Dave's class for first mod!"

I gave her a small smile, "That's super cool, Jade, I can't wait to finally meet the dude! And you say this is the same guy I helped pick the birthday present for, right?"

"Mhmm, Dave loved the glasses you helped me get for him last year."

"That's good," in a split second Jade stopped right in front of a classroom. The sudden stop caused me to collide into her back; the two of us stumbled forward almost falling. "Jade! You have to give people a heads-up before you decide to stop right in front of them."

"Hehe, sorry John," and she peeked her head inside the classroom"Well anyways, this is your class! It won't be starting for another 10 minutes, but it looks like a certain Strider has already arrived." She started to enter the classroom; I rushed in behind her so as to not be left alone in the foreign place.

Looking around it seemed like your typical classroom, solid color walls, a dry erase board, and a few motivational posters. I scanned the seats and notice that there was only one student already present the in the room besides Jade and myself.

The boy had spiked blonde hair and a long sleeved, red and white t-shirt displaying a scratched record player. His glasses prevented all ability to see his eyes, his appearance made him seem as though he was uninterested in what happened in the world around him. Few would notice the life that appeared in his face when he notices Jade talking to him.

"Hey Dave, this is my cousin John I've been telling you about!"

He stared directly at me and I gave an awkward wave towards him.

"Sup," he said in an almost monotone voice. If some stranger was to have a conversation with this man he would seem unable to express emotion. But a true detective can tell that he is masking his true self.

"Hey, it's awesome that I finally get to meet the legendary Dave Strider!"

The corner of his mouth ever so slightly twitched, "Legendary huh? And you must be the famous John I've been hearing a lot about."

"Yep, and now he's going to be in your health class. Isn't that fantastic Dave?" She didn't give him the time to answer; for once she looked down at her watch her eyes grew as wide as saucers. "Shoot! I'm going to be late for my make up test in World History. Bye guys!" She left the room leaving an empty space where she once stood.

"So Dave, are there assigned seats in here?" I asked trying my best to make small talk.

"Nope, There's an open seat next to me if you want it," using his thumb he pointed towards the seat that was to his left. At that moment I noticed a few faint lines on his wrist, he quickly placed his arm back down onto the desk and raised his sleeve to cover the marks, thinking I had not notice the movement.

I placed my backpack onto it and unzipped the main part. I retrieved the air horn and the duct tape. "Hey Dave, want to see a funny trick?"

Dave looked up towards me, or at least in my general area. "Show me your best, Egderp."

I gave the blonde a small salute, "Can do! Give me two minutes." I went over towards where the door was. The door was open as far as it could go, used the duct tape to make a mark on the wall that the door was touching. I placed the base of the air horn onto the wall and used a few layers of duct tape to secure it to the wall. I closed the door complete so someone would be more likely to open the door all the way.

I rushed over towards my seat and glanced at my watch, there was five minutes left before class would start. The first group of kid's should be entering any moment now.

"What are we waiting on, Egderp?" Dave was now leaning onto the palm of his right hand looking at the air horn tapped to the wall.

"1) We're waiting for a kid to open the door and to hit the air horn. 2) Why do you keep calling me Egderp? My name's Egbert."

"Simple, in all of Jade's stories you sound like a dork would always does a prank, but sometimes they fail completely."

Before I could respond there was a click at the classroom door, telling us that someone was about to enter. I felt myself sitting on the edge of my seat in anticipation as I waited to see if the prank would work.

A short boy with pitch black hair practically shoved the door open with all force he could. His bright red eyes and mouth were perfectly straight giving him the appearance of being absolutely frustrated at the world. But his dead look changed to that of a confused child as he screamed over the sound of the air horn deafening noise in the room.

"HOLY FUCKING SHIT, WHAT IN GOD'S FUCKING NAME WAS THAT?" The boy wouldn't stop flipping his shit at the noise.

I began to laugh my ass off at his expression. In the corner of my eye I could see that Dave was smiling, that was before the shouting boy looked over toward us.

The boy noticed the two of us in the room, and marched over to where we were; which wasn't much, considering we were in the back of the first and second rows. "DID YOU FUCKING DO THIS?"

"Y-yeah!" I managed to say in between my laughter.

"WHY IN GOD'S NAME WOULD YOU EVER FUCKING DO THAT, JACKASS?"

"It's a prank, that's why." I had finally managed to stop my laughter, but the smile would not leave my face.

The boys face scrunched up in pure frustration as he tried to calm down. "Look, your pretty fucking new. I swear to fucking god, if you ever pull a stunt like that this early ever again. I will fucking beat you senseless!" He was still essentially yelling, but now it wasn't nearly as loud.

"Sorry dude, I'll make sure I won't do it again." I tried to reassure him.

The boy continued to grumble to himself as he walked over towards his seat in the front row. I looked over towards Dave, he was just shaking his head.

"I got to admit, Egderp." He started as he stared over at the black haired boy.

"What?"

He looked over towards me and gave a small nod, "That really was a funny trick."

I grinned, and looked over towards the door, but my face slowly faded into a serious one.

Dave was a human being who was doing everything in his power to hide himself from the outside world. I know I saw Dave happy a moment ago, and it looks better than his other more monotone-like look. So I, John Egbert, will do my best to make Dave Strider happy.

**A.N. After this chapter, the chapters will be switching point of views from John and Dave at the beginning. Context clues will help you out on who's point of view it is, but it will only change from John to Dave, to John again (unless otherwise noted). This was Typed and Published April 9, 2015.**


	3. Chapter 3: Helping Others

**A.N. Perri is PM, and Wesley (Wes) is WV**

Chapter 3: Helping Others

(September 28th, continued)

Egderp and I continued with small talk for the rest of the class time; considering our Health teacher rarely gives us work. Egderp mostly just asked a bunch of questions and I'd do my best to give him short answers.

"Why is the school covered in Purple, Yellow, or a mixture of the two?" The brunette pondered as he stared at the colored tiles.

"School Spirit, The yellow areas are Team Prospit classes and the purple areas are Team Derse classes; the mixed zones are for elective classes." I replied trying to over exaggerate the boredom in my voice.

"Well, how do you know which team you're on?"

I reached my hand out towards him; the confusion was amplified on his face. "Schedule," was my only reply. I watched at the light bulb went off in his head as he realized what I was doing. A moment later I had a slightly crumbled up piece of paper in my grasp.

Scanning over the list of classes I noted that we shared none of the Core-classes (although, we did share health, piano, and Study Hall). After inspecting the paper for long enough I decided to hand it back to Egderp. "You're on team Prosit, same one as Jade."

His face dropped when I provided him with the news, "Does that mean I'm not on the same team as you?" Was that disappointment in his voice?

"Yep," I began to stare at the front of the class once again. Before either one of us could get another word in the conversation the dismissal bell rang. I gathered my backpack and started to slowly make my way to the door.

Right when I had one foot out the door I heard Egderp's voice call out. "H-hey Dave, can you wait a second?" Stopping in my tracks I turned around to face the shorter boy.

"What?"

The boy starred at his shoes as his fingers began to fold and unfold his schedule. "Can you help me get to my next class? I don't know where it is."

Sighing I began to walk the opposite direction of my normal route, "Come on, Egderp. You're going to English class, right?"

Instantly his head jerked up and the boy did his best to cover up his smile. "That's correct!" The dude proceeded to follow me like a lost puppy.

After a few minutes we finally reached out destination in the school. "Here you are Egderp." I then turned away from the classroom and started to walk to my next class.

"Thanks Dave! See ya later." The elated boy yelled down the hallway. Without looking back I gave the dude a small wave while shaking my head. This will probably be one of the few times we actually talk, considering he will meet other students and want to hang out with them more than me.

I was roughly halfway towards my History class at this point; few students roamed the halls as it grew closer for the tardy bell to ring. Up ahead I noticed a boy and a girl talking. The girl was taller and had light blonde hair; she wore a grey vest and skirt while carrying around a blue messenger bag. The boy on the other hand had pitched black hair and red eyes; he was wearing a black shirt under his normal green overalls. I instantly recognized the two to be Perri (my neighbor) and Caliborn (the school bully).

As I grew closer to them I picked up on bits of their conversation. "Give me the papers, bitch. I know there are three white cards with my name on it in there. And I fucking command you to give them to me!"

Perri's shook her head 'no' and attempted to walk past him, clutching harder onto the blue bag. This was a typical argument she faced with Caliborn every other day, considering how often the boy would get into trouble. Normally at this point Caliborn would have already gotten most of the papers away from the messenger, but today it seemed the girl was determined to turn in _all _of the papers.

Caliborn stomped his foot as loudly as he could, "YOU WORTHLESS PIECE OF SHIT, I FUCKING COMMAND YOU TO GIVE THEM TO ME!"

I was now standing behind Caliborn without his knowledge. Balancing myself on one leg I used the other to apply pressure to the back of Caliborn's knees. The dude collapsed to the ground with a small yelled from surprise as he made contact with the floor.

Enraged he stood up and turned towards me, "WHO THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU ARE, STRIDER?" He began to jab his point-ass finger into my chest. "DO YOU THINK YOU'RE FUCKING SPECIAL? THAT YOU CAN JUST WALTZ IN HERE AND BE A HERO. WELL YOU FUCKING CAN'T. I AM YOUR FUCKING SURPIEOR AND DON'T YOU FORGET THAT, YOU MEAN NOTHING IN THIS WORLD."

It was times like this I was glad I had nearly perfected my poker face, "Go away Caliborn, or I'll do more than just make you fall to the ground. Don't forget I'm the ex-captain of the Junior Martial Arts team."

The boy huffed and stomped towards the Derse hallway, muttered to himself about the situation, with my heightened sense of hearing I heard every word. "Fucking Strider needs to just go kill himself already. Shit-face doesn't belong here and is such a fucking nuisance."

I did my best to block the words from my thoughts, but the pain in my chest was too painful to ignore. I bit my lip and resisted to lower my head, because although I knew every word he said was true, I couldn't let anyone know how I felt, because it would hurt ever more to know that they wouldn't care.

"Thank's Dave." A quiet voice finally spoke up; I suddenly remembered that I wasn't alone in the hallway.

"No problem Perri, dude deserved it. You okay? Or do you want me to get your sister?" I inspected her from head to toe to make sure there was no obvious damage.

"No thanks, I'm fine." She gave a warm smile.

"Alright then, see ya later." I gave her a wave and proceeded to my class, hoping I would get in there on time.

"Hey Dave," I stopped in my tracks and looked over towards her once again.

"Wes wants to go to the park later, but I'm going to be busy today. Could you please take him?"

"Yea, sure. We'll probably just work more on Can Town; dude's a sweet as mayor you know. See ya Perri, I kind of need to go to class." I did my best to hurry off towards the direction of my class.

On my way to the classroom I noticed that I was about to pass a restroom. The pain my chest was all still to real and I couldn't get the echoing words of Caliborn out of my head. I couldn't resist my temptation to skip class. Running into the bathroom I chose the stall to the far left. Closing the door and locking it, I placed my backpack onto the stall's hook. I sat myself onto the toilet seat after making sure it was completely clean off, I pulled my knees towards my chest so anyone coming in would not see me. I shoved my hand into my pocket until I felt a cold, metallic substance.

Pulling the object out I gently rubbed my thumb over the edge, the razor was getting dull at this point and I would need to replace it sooner or later. I rolled down my red sleeve to reveal the older marks I've made, some fresher than others. Letting out a sigh, I pressed the blade against my skin and drew it across my arm. The pain in my arm distracted me from my sadness lying within my chest. I placed just two marks on my arm and watch as the blood drips down my arm. I grab a piece of toilet paper and wipe away the blood before it can touch my clothing.

Grabbing a newer piece of toilet paper I wipe off whatever I can from the blade before placing it into my pocket once again. I search my backpack for a few band aids; I place them onto the fresh wounds before rolling down my sleeve again. Unable to get Caliborn's words to leave my thoughts, I apply pressure to the new wound. The pain in bearable, and momentarily distracts me from reality. I prop my head against the stalls walls, and wait until the next dismissal bell goes off.

**A.N. Typed and published April 12, 2015. Also I will be, for sure, updating the story on Friday's from now on. I can only promise one chapter at a time, but if I get more typed out before then. I will try my best to publish it ASAP. Lastly, this story will also be published onto Wattpad (updates will happen at the same time).**


	4. Chapter 4: Meeting the Psychologist

**A.N. Special Thanks to London-in-Love for adding this story to her community JohnDave: The best of Pepsicola (check it out, there are some great stories there) and TheRoyalAwesomeness for agreeing to be a betareader! **

Chapter 4: Meeting the Psychologist

(September 28th, continued)

The fourth dismissal bell rang for the day, and I began to put away the algebra notes we were taking for class. I glanced up to see Jade looking down at me. Her green eyes were filled with excitement as she held her notebook to her chest.  
"Hurry up, John, it's time for lunch! I want you to meet everyone!" Jade bounced slightly with each word, adding to her case on how excited she was.

I forced myself to produce my famous Egbert smile. "I can't wait to meet them, Jade. If they are even half as awesome as how you describe them in your stories, I know I'll like them." It wasn't a complete lie. I might not be the biggest fans of them once I come to know the group, but they keep Jade happy. So as long as it make's Jade happy, I'll pretend to be their friend

The two of us exited the math room, only to be greeted by a blonde girl (who looked like a miniature Roxy) and a brunette girl who looked to be naturally tanned. The blonde was wearing a mid-thigh black skirt and white t-shirt with a miniature squid on it. The other girl was wearing a long red skirt and a solid black t-shirt.

"Hey Rose, hey Kanaya!" Jade spoke gleefully as she hugged both girls. "This is my cousin, John." she stepped off towards the side so that the two girls could properly see me.

"Hello, John," the blonde girl, who I assume is Rose, gives me a smile and a small nod.

"It is a pleasure to meet you." Kanaya closes the space between us for a split second as she pulls me into a hug.

The warm feeling catches me off-guard and after a moment of hesitation, I hugged her back. "Yeah, um, same here." The two of us separate and I had to suppress the whine that almost escaped my throat as my body began to feel cold.

Rose looked over from the two of us, to see where Jade was standing, "Are you ready for lunch?"

"Of course!" Jade stretched out her arm, revealing her Squiddles' themed lunch box "I'm always ready for that. So let's go down there already!" The overly-cheerful girl proceeded to walk away from the two girls and me. The three of us followed behind her.

It's not like I have much of a choice, I thought to myself, If I don't stick with Jade I'll be permanently lost at this school.

On our way to the cafeteria, I realized that Kanaya and Rose were holding hands. I bit the side of my cheek, curiosity was killing me, but I did not wish to come off as rude.  
Rose picked up on the fact that I had been staring at the duo. "Can I help you, John?" Each word she pronounced as clearly as she could.

I looked away from here for a moment as I tried to state my words. "Yeah, um, I'm not trying to be rude or anything. But, are the two of you dating or something?" I felt the blood rush to my cheeks as I asked the stupidest question in the entire world.

The two girls giggled quietly to each other before Kanaya spoke. "Yes, in fact, we are. We have been dating for a year and a half now, ever since the end of Rose's seventh grade year.

"Rose's seventh grade year? Are you in an older grade?"

"That is correct, I am currently a sophomore."

I elbowed Rose's arm gently. "Going for the older ladies, are we?"

It was now Rose's turn to blush as we continued to walk down the hall. After a few minutes the four of us entered the cafeteria. The room was gigantic; it looked as if it stretched to miles on both ends. The room was slowly growing more and more crowded, so I gripped onto the back of Jade's shirt as she navigated us through the crowd.

Only bumping into a handful of students, the four of us safely manage to reach an open area. I noticed that there was two large, rectangular tables that had been combined so instead of two groups of 8, there was one group of 16 chairs available. The three of them sat towards the end of the conjoined tables, Rose and Kanaya sat on one end, and Jade sat on the other. I joined them by sitting beside of Jade on the corner seat of the table. I searched through my backpack for my Problem Sleuth lunch box. Inspecting the tin box, I used my thumb to trace the form of PS, AD, and PI as they posed on the cover.

More and more students began to join the table, some of whom I recognized from earlier classes. The short, shout boy from this morning (who's name I learned was Karkat) walked up next to Jade, before pausing when his eyes meet mine.

"Why the fucking hell are you here?" The dude sounded extremely annoyed over the situation.

I opened my mouth to respond, but Jade beat me to it. "He's my cousin, Karkat!" Jade looked at me with her normal grin, "So, I take it you've already met Karkat?"

"Met him? The fucker set up some goddamn air-horn shit in the first period of the day!" Karkat slammed his backpack onto the tiled floor next to his seat before walking off. "If he does it again, I swear to fucking god I will break his fucking neck. " The boy continued to rant as he wandered off towards the growing lunch line.

"Don't mind Karkat, John, he's always in a grumpy mood!" Jade opened her lunch box to retrieve her sandwich. Looking past her I saw the other group of students who remained at the table eating packed lunches rather than getting in line.

A skinny boy who had black hair with a single streak of purple sat next to a slightly pudgy girl with dark brown hair. Across from them was a girl with long black hair who not only wore glasses, but also had an eye patch over her left eye. Beside of her was a girl with ginger hair who was wearing bright red sun-glasses.

The ginger girl sat up straight for a brief moment before turning her head towards my direction. "It's rude to stare at a blind girl, ya know."

I froze, she had to be joking, right? There was no way she was blind AND could tell I was looking at her. The other three students sitting with her looked over towards the direction she faced, completely confused.

The girl with black hair laughed extremely loud as she placed her hand onto the ginger's shoulders. "Terezi, I still don't understand how you can do that." she then shifted her attention completely towards me. "So, who the hell do you think you are? Sitting at OUR table like YOU own the place. Welllllll buster, I got news for you! We've got this thing called an initiation you have to go through." The girl sported off a wicked smile at me, showing off her teeth that were practically as sharp as fangs.

The brunnette across from her rolled her eyes as the other, "Oh for cods sake, Vriska, I reely wish you would stop with all the glubbing nonseanse aboat initiations. If the buoy wants to sit here, then by cod, he should be allowed." It took me a moment to decipher the fish puns the girl used in her statement.

Vriska gave the brunnette a small pout, "You're no fun sometimes, Feferi." With her slightly sulking mood, Vriska looked directly at me. "Whale," The girl facepalmed herself as her annoyance seemed to intensify at the mistake, and Feferi quietly giggled at the accidental pun. "I mean "well", since we still can't do an initiation, why don't you tell us your name."

"John Egbert, I'm Jade's cousin," I mentally paused at what I just stated. "I'm Jade's cousin" the words echoed in my head, is that who I was now? Were those words my permanent label? Nothing special like "World's Best Magician" or "Pranking Master," just "Jade's cousin.

I was pulled out of my thought's as I heard Jade once again speaking up. "That's right, and he just moved here."

"Oh, reely? How exciting!" Feferi exclaimed, "So John, why did you move here?"

My mind went blank and it felt as if I swallowed my heart as the pulse in my body increased rapidly. I wasn't prepared to tell them yet, I barely knew them. "I, um, my parent's got a divorce. So I'm living with my dad and sister right now." As if my body was on autopilot, I unwillingly gave them a response, it's wasn't a complete lie, but not the exact truth, either.

I saw their eye's widen once they heard the response, the situation had turned slightly awkward as none of them new how to respond.

"My parent's are divorce," Terezi spoke up "I haven't seen my dad in over 10 years and I don't plan on seeing him any time soon."

Vriska bit on her lip for a second before shaking her head with a small sigh. "We're a group of people with messed up families. So don't think you're the only one who's had to deal with that." She gave a halfhearted smile. "Don't be afraid to talk to one of us if you need to." The girl then turned to face Feferi and the mysterious boy starting a new conversation on an unrelated topic.

Looking forward I realized Rose was closely watching me, I shifted my vision down towards my food as I slowly picked at my sliced apples and PBJ sandwich. Half a dozen students appeared from the lunch line and began to sit down at the table as well. The table filled with chatter and laughter as the students began to relay stories from earlier events in the day. Looking around I noticed that a certain blonde was missing from the miniature crowd.

"Hey, where's Dave?" I directed the question towards Rose and Jade.

"He usually sits with either our older siblings or by himself," Rose explained as she divided her lunch between herself and Kanaya.

"But why?"

"Dave is not very sociable with people his own age."

"Oh," I went back to playing with my food, I reached over towards my Coca-cola soda and open the lid. The contents of the soda explode from the tip as I begin to open the can. Unfortunately instead of landing onto me, the sticky substance attacked the side of Jade.

The girl squeals from the unsuspected attack and inspects the damage, her white shirt is soaked and is slowly staining from the brown substance. "Oh my god, John this is so gross!" Jade pulled the sticking shirt away from her skin.

"I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to!" I rushed to hand her the few napkins I had brought with me.

Jade released a long, frustrated sigh. "No, no, it's alright," she stood up and searched through her school bag "I'll just go ahead and wear the clothes I was going to put on for my FFA class." After giving a small wave she walked off towards the restroom "It should only take me a moment."

I mentally slapped myself as I realized how idiotic I was to open the soda without checking it first. "I'm such an idiot, she probably hates me now." I muttered under my breath.

Suddenly the boy with black and purple hair began shouting over the group towards my direction. "Yo, Kanaya!"

The dark haired girl looked back over towards him giving her full undivided attention, "Yes, Eridan?"

"Can I see your math homework? Fef and I didn't come back from the swim meet till midnight and I don't know how to do this shit."

"Of course, darling, just give me a moment," the sophomore walked over towards Eridan with a piece of notebook paper.

The area where I was sitting grew completely silent, I had not realized the amount of chatter the three girls near me exchanged as the lunch period passed by.  
"John?" Rose tried to gain my attention.

"Hm? Yeah Rose?" I tried to give her the friendliest smile I could.

"Why did you really move here? Roxy informed me that your and Jane's parents have been divorced for over a decade now."

My face dropped and I could tell the color was leaving me. I felt every muscle in my body tense up, the butterflies swarmed in my stomach as I tried to comprehend the words that left Roses mouth. Did she honestly expect me to answer her?

Apparently so, as the next words out of her mouth made me feel somewhat unsure on what to do. "Nobody else is listening, and I promise not to tell," looking beside us I realized she was correct, everyone was distracted with the chatter they shared with their friends that nobody was paying us the slightest bit of attention.

"Y-you swear?" I responded as I forced myself to pay attention to Rose once more.

"Secrets are confidential material, I would not share it with anyone else without your permission." The blonde rested herself on one of her open palms as she tried to give me a reassuring smile.

I laughed ever so quietly to myself. "You sound like a psychologist when you put it like that." I don't know why, but I felt like I could trust her.

Her smile grew at my reaction, "I wish to become a professional psychologist when I grow up, as well as a writer. So please, John, tell me the truth."

I felt my hands shaking slightly. "Alright then, as long as you don't tell another soul." I felt a lump forming as I tried to remain calm.  
"Yes, I promise."

I took in one last deep breath before giving her the desired response.

"My mom committed suicide."

**A.N. Hey everyone! Remember how I just said I was going to make weekly updates? Guess what, I'm moving next month and there is a 90% percent chance I have a job now. So in till June I will not be able to make regular updates. THIS DOES NOT MEAN THE STORY IS DEAD, it is just currently on pause. I will do my best to get at least two or three chapters in before then, but I can't make any promises for I have state and final testing for the next month as well as 5 end-of-the-year projects I need to complete. I will most likely just work on fixing the chapters already posted. Till the next time, -Zuzu/span/p**


	5. Chapter 5: A Trip To The Park

Chapter 5: A Trip To The Park

(September 28th, continued)

I watched the clouds passed over me as my feet gently pushed me back and forth. My feet were barely touching the ground as the moans and creaks of the old swing filled the chilled air. The small breeze passed through my golden locks, causing my bangs to lie in front of my rounded shades. The relaxing scenery caused me to release a sigh as I closed my eyes. I began to playback the events that recently transpired in my head.

_Egderp and I did some more small chat and the dude also showed me some more of his tricks. They were actually a little funny; my favorite being when he used his phone to make it sound like a cat was hiding in the library. I was actually enjoying myself till Karkat began to scream at us for being "total dipshits" when we accidently knocked the table he was working at and caused him to mess up his art assignment._

I bite the side of my cheek as my vision glued itself to the ground. I know it shouldn't bother me, considering that's just how Karkat treats everyone. But, it's still unbearable to have him angry at me, considering we did date all of eighth grade year, and it's my fault that we broke up. I ran my right hand through my hair attempting to brush back my loose bangs as I did my best to change my train of thought.

_Then later that day I was talking to Aradia during science class, and I paid no attention the amount of water I was placing into mine and Rose's plant for the science project. I mentally flinched as I recalled the look of annoyance Rose had as we learned I had killed the young plant. It's times like this that I wish I could turn back time and fix my misdeeds, or possibly just cause myself to never exist so nobody would have to deal with my fuckups. I placed my head into my palm as I gently rubbed away the small headache I had formed_

I slumped my body forward as I continued to recall every one of my mistakes that I had made today. I released my grip on the swing and placed my thumb on top of the covered marks on my left arm. Once I located the red line I made earlier today, I applied as much pressure as I could to the open lines. The area felt like it was on fire as I continued to apply force upon it for a few minutes.

I was pulled out of my thoughts as I felt a weak tug on the sleeve of my shirt, causing me to look over towards my right. A boy with dark brunette hair and wide, blue eyes looked at me. It quickly dawned on me that I was still at the park with Wesley, my 6 year old neighbor. He was wearing a light grey coat and his face was covered with an equally grey scarf to protect him from the weather.

"What's up, Wes?" I attempted to keep my voice even, giving him a small half-smile.

Wes released his grip on my sleeve as he pulled his hand towards his body, since his only way to communicate was through sign language. _Can we play Can Town today?_

I laughed lightly under my breath as I ruffled his brown hair with my right hand, "Of course, what else would we do?" I watched as Wes's face stretched into a wide grin as I agreed to play his favorite game.

_Okay, can I finish swinging first? _ I nodded towards the younger dude as I stared down at his feet. Wes, being only six years old, was a few inches away from touching the ground.

"Do you want me to push you?"

Wes nodded his head quickly before replying, _Please._

I stood from my current position as I walked over towards where Wes sat eagerly, waiting for me to help him out. Once I knew that he had his grip onto the swing I applied pressure onto his back as I helped Wes to slowly build up his momentum so that he could move back and forth on his own.

I stepped back so that I would not be kicked by the young elementary student. In the corner of my eye I noticed that a small group of high schoolers were beginning to walk over towards the swings. I groaned mentally as I instantly recognized the notorious group. It was none other than Caliborn along with three members from one of the school gangs, the Felt. It looked as if he had Itchy, Clover, and Biscuits. I observed my surroundings, and sighed out of relief when I realized there were eight swings in total (including the ones Wes and I had been using).

Once the miniature group arrived were I was, I did my best at ignoring the obnoxious group. But my work was in vain, for Caliborn placed himself right next to me

"Get that tiny-being off of the swing, he's in my spot." The shorter boy crossed his arms over his chest as he glared over towards Wes was.

"No way, Caliborn, there is literally seven other swings you can use." I did not even bother to stare the dude in the eyes, as I knew it would only cause my headache to reappear with a vengeance.

I felt the harsh force of being shoved into one of the supporting poles as Caliborn to throw another fit. "Get him the fuck off right now, or else I'll make you regret it, you worthless piece of shit!" The boy did not attempt his anger as his voice had a low growl in it.

My mouth was in pain as it finally registered to me that I had busted my lip when I hit the side of the pole. I lifted my hand up towards my mouth, only to have my suspicions confirmed as my fingers were tinted red from the fresh blood. I locked my eyes onto Caliborn as I held the urge to grit my teeth; I refused to allow him to know the pain he was causing me. "No way, sit somewhere else! We were here first, deal with it."

Instead of responding back with his venomous words, he instead turned his attention towards the kid we had been fighting about. Caliborn waited in till Wes was near us, he then grabbed one side of the swing, harshly I may add.

The sudden stop had caused Wes to fall from the seat; he had apparently loosened his grip from the chains as he swinging. A look of terror was plastered onto Wes's face as he feel onto the mulch, wincing as the crunched up wood attached his palms and penetrated parts of his clothes.

I was frozen in place as my eyes traced every detail that had happened. I couldn't respond till I had seen the tears begin to appear in the corner of Wes's eyes. The boy gripped onto his right hand, and I noticed the blotches of blood beginning to appear from the scrapes on his skin. I wanted to head over and help Wes as soon as possible, but I felt anger overcome my system.

"I told I would make you regret it," the older boy had a deep smirk on his face as he saw the pain that Wes was in. His eyes barely met mine before I had lifted my fist, and smashed it right against his mouth.

The black haired boy kneeled slightly as his hands flew over towards his mouth. He spat out a little blood, as well as removed a tooth from his mouth. His eyes narrowed as he wiped away the blood from his mouth. "Biscuit," he spoke in a deep, hateful voice.

Two large hands pushed me onto the ground, my face making instant contact with the wooden ground. Luckily my shades had prevented any from getting into my eyes, but I couldn't say anything about the rest of me. I looked up; I supported my upper body weight onto my arm as I started to get back up. Before I could succeed in doing so, I felt a foot dig into my stomach.

I small yelp released my lips, and I imminently sealed me lips. I glared up towards to see who my current attacker was. Without any surprise it was Caliborn, the dude had left his foot onto my shirt. His agitated look turned into that of a malicious grin when he heard me.

"Oh, I'm sorry," he had stated with mock sincerity. "Did that hurt? Here, let me do it again." Caliborn raised his leg, and with all his strength he had kicked my stomach once more. He had delivered several blows through this method, before stopping with a wide smile still present.

"Do you finally understand shit-face? I am the superior one, and you are nothing. So stop being a waste of space, and get the fuck out of my way." Caliborn's eyes had found themselves onto Wes once again. "And take your poor excuse of a friend with you too."

I stood up, doing my best to not fall over from the noticeable pain I had received. "Whatever Caliborn," I faced Wes, who was apparently being held by Itchy during Caliborn's fit. "Come on, Wes, we'll go find somewhere else to hang out." With that, the boy had been released from the older man's grip.

The two of us began to walk away from the miniature group, but not before I had remembered to grab my backpack. I led Wes over towards the forest so that we could be a safe distance from the other boys.

Several minutes passed by us, neither speaking a word. The only sounds that could be heard were the sounds of the leaves and twigs crunching below our feet. My eyes kept scanning the surrounding; I did not want to run into any hikers or wild animals while we were in this state.

Wes and I finally arrived to our destination, an old tree house that had long been abandoned by its owners. While the tree had not seen much love the last few years, it was still safe enough to climb into. Inside the building had a few pillows on the floor, a tiny table hiding in the corner, and countless number of cans laying across the floor. A few of the cans were stacked on top of one another, while others were placed simply in rows.

After the two of us had managed to make our way into the wooden structure, I sat down and reached into the bag. I pulled out a few coke cans and a small box of Band-Aids, as well as a bottle of disinfectant spray. I placed myself in front of Wes and held out my left hand out towards him.

"Okay Wes, let me see your hand so we can get it bandaged up." I tried to speak in a gentle voice, considering how much Wes hated the spray I was going to use.

The young boy violently shook his head, keeping his injured hands pulled close towards his body.

"Wes, it will only hurt for a second. You're sisters are going to kill me if they find out you get an infection!" I half-pleaded with the kid.

The boy still only responded by placing his hands behind his back, he refused to look me in the eyes as he shook his head once again.

A light bulb went into my head as I finally knew what to say to the dude, "Aaaaaaand if they see you got hurt, they won't let me take you to the park anymore." Wes's head snapped upwards as he stared at me, his eyes the shape of saucers. "And if that happens, we won't be allowed to play Can Town anymore." I over-exaggerated the sadness in my voice; truth be told his sisters would be angry, but would forgive me when I would tell them what happened.

The guy finally decided to give in to my request, hesitantly placing out his injured palms so that I could inspect them. I quickly placed the spray onto the open wounds, and placed the bandages onto the scrapes before he could once again pull his hands away. The boy gave a slight hiss as he felt a burn in his palms, but his sulking face light up when he was given can packed full of sugar.

The two of us began to slowly consume the cola's, adding each empty can into the pretend-city that we had created. Wes's attention was glued onto the tin-cans, losing himself into the imaginary would he had made. His hands were full of the empty cans, having the smaller cans interacting as if they were the citizens of the town.

As Wes paid more and more attention to the cans, I fell that much more into my subconscious. I felt myself grow lost into a dark world as I could no-longer view reality. My vision told me that I was in the tree house still, but the place felt so foreign. I could not hear the sounds of tin-cans hitting wooden floors, my ears were only filled with the words that I was all too familiar with.

_Worthless, nobody needs you. _The words of my haters that I heard every day, but the voices sounded nothing like them; though, they were still familiar.

_Why don't you kill yourself? Everyone will be better off once you're dead. _I gripped my hands into tight fists as I tried to figure out whose voice this was.

_You can't help others; you only hurt everyone around you. When will you realize you are worst than garbage? _Pain was present in my teeth as I grinded them against one another.

_Don't you realize that nobody will ever love_\- My thoughts were interrupted as the small wooden door on the base of the tree house was opened. My heart stopped as I feared for the worse, did Caliborn follow us and decided to attack us again?

I watched as a head full of black hair began to make its way into the sanctuary. My body stiffened as I believed my fears had been confirmed, I attempted to keep myself calm, as to not scare Wes on the situation.

"Hey guys!" I exhaled a breath that I was not aware of holding, it was only Egderp. I eyed him suspiciously as the happy-go-lucky dude pulled himself into the house.

"What are you doing here, Egderp?" I succeeded in keeping my voice monotone when I addressed the guy.

"I was walking around the forest; it isn't too far from my house. I spotted my old tree house and decided to visit for the nostalgia of it." Egderp answered in his normal cheerful tone.

I felt dumbfounded as I processed his words, "Wait, this is your tree house?"

"Yep," The boy grinned from ear to ear, "Dad built this for me and Jane when we were in elementary school." The boy's eyes narrowed as he inspected Wes and I head to toe, greatly noticing the busted lip I had acquired since our last encounter. "Hey Dave, what happened to you?"

"Oh, this old thing?" I carefully touched the open injury as I did my best not to wince, "Caliborn threw a fit again because I didn't let him get on the swing he wanted, because Wes was using it."

The look of confusion was present on his face, "Caliborn? Wes?"

"Caliborn is the guy that has black hair and red eyes, always wears green overalls and is constantly getting into trouble at school." I pointed my thumb over towards Wes, who had gone back to playing with the citizens of Can Town. "That's Wes, dude's seven years old, and is one awesome mayor of Can Town."

"Can Town?"

I rolled my eyes in a joking way towards Egderp, "Man, you're a little slow on the uptake aren't you? Can Town is an imaginary place that we made up, that's why we have a bunch of tin-can's around the place."

Egderp's mouth shaped itself into a perfect "O" as he finally understood what I had told him. "That's cool, but how do you know Wes?"

"The dude's my neighbor; I hang out with him since the kids his age are jerks." Once again Egderp looked confused, implying that I needed to continue. "Wes's mute, the other kids make fun of him a lot for it."

Egderp looked down at the ground, "That's stupid, it's not like it's his fault," his vision shifted over towards were Wes was sitting, "I can only imagine what he has to deal with. I remember back in elementary school everyone made fun of me for wearing dorky glasses, but it stopped when other kids had to start wearing them too. Almost nobody else will understand what he has to deal with, so there's no guarantee that they will ever stop. And with what Caliborn did, he has no right; there is no excuse for what he did to Wes or you."

I waved my hand casually towards Egderp, "Nah man, it's fine. Whatever Caliborn does to me, I'm used to it at this point." Egderp's eyes looked at me, anger visible in his eyes.

"What?" His cheerful tone had completely vanished, only seriousness was present.

"Caliborn's done these sorts of things to me since sixth grade. I'm used to it at this point. So don't worry about it."

I saw the seriousness slowly fade; I saw something else in his eyes, hurt maybe? "Just because it's happened for a long time, doesn't mean its okay."

"Nah Egderp, it's chill."

I watched as Egderp restrained himself from shaking, "No, it isn't. You're a cool guy Dave; people like you don't deserve to get hurt."

It was my turn now to be puzzled, "People like me?"

A smile began to reappear in Egderp's face, but his smile seemed like that which was hiding pain. "People who are special," Egderp looked out towards the glass-less window the tree house had. "I know you probably don't see it Dave, but you are special to a lot of people. And I promise to make sure people like Caliborn don't hurt you anymore."

**A.N. Sorry, I know this one isn't that much like sadstuck. But considering this story is going to be more than a few chapters long, I'm most likely going to have a few "filler" chapters. Will attempt to update next Friday, but I am FINALLY moving next weekend, it might be a few days late).**


	6. Chapter 6: The Health Assignment

Chapter 6: The Health Assignment

(September 29)

Yesterday's events flashed through my head as I occasionally glimpsed at Dave. My heart was in the gutters, I hoped that letting him know how important he was, would give him reason to open up more. But Dave hasn't even spoken a single word to me since I got in here. I seriously hope that I didn't put our friendship in an odd position when I talked to him yesterday. I sighed heavily as I watched the health teacher walked towards the whiteboard located at the front of the class. Using a blue tip marker, she began to write in big bold letters:

TODAY'S ASSIGNMENT- WRITE 1 PAGE ON ANOTHER STUDENT.

After she successfully finished her goal, the brunette turned to face the class. She clapped her hands together with a joyful smile on her face; once she was certain that she had all of her students attention, the teacher spoke up. "Okay everyone, it's been a little while since our last assignment." A groan filled the classroom as the half-awake students started to comprehend that they were expected to work today. " Sticking with our latest chapter about Family Life, you will partner up and write one full page about your partner's home life." She looked down at her wrist, where a silver watch was located. "Class is over in fifty minutes, so I expect you all to be done with the assignment in thirty-five minutes. After which, I will read them randomly to the class, so you can guess whose it is, so make sure not to write your partner's name." The teacher noticed that most of the students had already begun to relocated their seats next to their partners. She turned to her right and proceed towards her desk, which had a miniature stack of papers lying on it. "Good luck, and remember, they're due in thirty-five minutes."

I turned to face Dave, sporting a large, tooth filled grin as I was overcome with excitement. "So, Dave, wanna team up?" I tried my best to not sound desperate, considering Dave was the only person I considered as a friend in here.

The aforementioned friend held a strong poker face as he looked at me (or, I assumed he was since his sunglasses made it impossible to see where he was looking). "Hmm… I guess." Dave stood up for a brief moment, so that our desks could be placed directly against one another.

I had a weird feeling posses me as Dave grew closer. I chalked it up as my nerves being on edge since he unexpectedly invaded my space. I grasped onto my green back pack and lifted it onto my desk I unzipped the black lining, quickly grabbing two pieces of paper and my pencil. I noticed that Dave had made no attempt to get paper out, and grabbed two more pieces for him before zipping up the bag and placing it below my desk once more.

I turned to face Dave, who was spacing out beside me. I stretched my hand out to give him the two striped pieces of paper. "here, one's for notes, and the other is meant for the actual assignment."

Dave snapped his hand at me when he heard my voice. I noticed that his eyebrows were raised, meaning I just caught Mr. Poker-Face off guard. I gave him a wide grin as he stared at the paper for a brief moment before making attempt to take the pieces of paper from my hand. "Thanks?" His voice showing no attempt to hid his confusion.

"No problem! So do you want to go first on talking, or do you want me to go first?" Dave's vision shifted as he turned to stare at the white and blue sheets.

"Look, you can talk about your family all you want, but I'm not telling you about my home life." His voice was back to a cold, almost empty sound.

I felt my forehead scrunch together as I continued to look at Dave, "Well, why not?"

"I don't want any of these guys to know," His head lifted towards my direction. "Especially someone who I just met yesterday," he added sharply. "It's my life, and it's nobody's fucking business."

I felt a pain emerge in my heart as I realized that Dave didn't trust me yet, it took all my strength to not let my pain be visible. "Aw come on Dave, your family can't be that bad."

Dave's vision did not shift, but he laid his head onto an open palm as he leaned onto the desk. "Oh really? Well if you really want to know my life, well then Egbert, here it is." I could distinctly hear the frustration hiding in his voice.

"My mom is a Trashy-Writer specialist who is constantly traveling the world for either signings or inspiration for her book. She hasn't been home in four months, and whenever she calls, she only has ten minutes before she has to leave. My dad is constantly out of the house to shoot a film." Dave gritted his teeth trying to keep his voice quiet. "What kind of films does he record? Fucking pornos, my dad is only home once a week at best, every month; and when he isn't, he's in some other god damn place, half the time not even in this country, getting paid to have sex on camera.

"Yeah, my family's rich because of what my parents do. But because they're never home, everyone is messed up. Roxy is constantly going to parties and coming home drunk, and doesn't care if anybody notices. Rose has practically dedicated her life to becoming a famous writer and psychologist, spending day after day studying so she can get valedictorian. Even if she seems pretty laid back, she's exhausted because she stays up till two o'clock in the morning trying to study. Dirk has spent years doing mixed martial arts competitions, he was the youth state champion three years running before he just called quits." Dave waved his opposite hand in a jerked motion, "They all have been trying for so long now to get our parents attention, but it's pointless. Dirk and Roxy have practically raised Rose and i for the last five years. Our parents know almost nothing about our personal lives. Hell, they probably don't even realize that all four of us are fucking queers!"

My eyes widen as I realized what Dave just said, "You're all gay?"

Dave muttered a quick "shit" under his breath, I guess he hadn't realize that he stated that fact allowed. "Not exactly. Dirk and Rose are gay. Roxy and I are bisexual," his voice sounded very irritable. Dave formed a tight fist and took a deep breath. "It doesn't matter, anyways. All I have to say is that if you think that what I said makes a perfect family, fine, I live in the most wonderful family there is." It sounded as if Dave's voice was about to crack, and I realized Dave was on the verge of crying. I wanted to make him feel better, but I couldn't stop the words that managed to escape my lips.

"You said it's hopeless for them to try, like you know from first hand experience, so what did you do to get their attention?" Both of us froze when the question hit our ears. For a split second I thought I watch Dave tug at his sleeves, pulling them to be located right below his thumbs. I understood what he was doing, he was trying to hid the marks. I mentally prepared myself to have a ice-cold statement get thrown at my face, considering I most likely just hit a nerve with him.

What shocked me, though, was that instead of Dave getting angry, he gave me a half-hearted laugh as he worse his normal cool-guy expression. "I haven't done anything for them, I always do whatever I want, I could care less what they think. If they don't want to keep up with my life, fine, I won't try and beg to get their attention," Dave almost whispered, he looked down at my desk and lightly shook his head. "Jeez Egderp, I think you wrote your one page just by taking notes." I gave him a puzzled look as I followed his gaze. My eyes grew to the size of saucers as I realized that I had unconsciously wrote down every word that left Dave's mouth.

I scratched the back of my head awkward and I gave a small laugh, "Whoops, didn't realize what I was doing." I looked down at my desk, ashamed of what I had done. Not just writing notes on Dave's personal life, which he obviously hated, but because I was the one that caused him to get so frustrated. "Sorry," I murmured, unsure if Dave would truly understand what the apology was for.

I heard a sigh leave Dave, "It's okay, Egderp. It's your turn to talk about your perfect life." Sarcasm was dropped heavily on the word perfect.

I swallowed the lump that was building up in my throat, but I knew it was only fair that I tell Dave the truth just like he did to me. "My dad works for an overseas company that has a few locations in America. He travels to places like Japan and England every other week, sometimes more often than that. So my sister typically hangs out with her friends so she isn't stuck being home alone. When he's out of country he doesn't normal call, considering he has problems remember timezone differences, and he's almost always in a meeting." I fiddled with my thumbs, feeling awkward as I continued. "Whenever it's just Jane and I we normally just watch CSI or Comedy movies together. She's been busy the last few weeks though, since next year she's going to be inheriting our mom's company, she's doing all the research she can."

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw that Dave tilted his head. "What kind of company is it?" Pure curiosity had appearing in his face.

I chuckled slightly, "It's a Baking company, you've probably heard of it. It's called English Delight."

"English Delight?" Dave said skeptically. "The same English Delight that's the top brand name in Australia, Canada, and England?"

I nodded at him, "Yeah, it's a sister company with the Harley Swirls, the company that Jade and Jake's parent's own," a warm feeling located itself inside my heart as I thought of my cousins and sister. "It's a family business, Jane was named our mother's heir and Jake is the heir to their company. Of course Jade and I will be co-owners when we turn eighteen."

"Why are they inheriting the companies so soon?" Dave stopped for a moment, "I mean, I know why Jade and Jake would already get ownership, ya know, because of the incident."

I nodded my head, remembering the event of which he was talking about. Jade's parents died over a decade ago because of a mugging gone wrong, they've lived with my grandparents on my mom's side ever since. "Yea," I felt my head lower as I prepped myself to continue. "Jane and I are inheriting the company, 'cause well..." I took a deep breath, buying myself time to think if I really wanted to tell Dave the truth. I know it would only be fair since he told me his whole situation, but I don't know if I can trust him with that dreaded secret like I could with Rose. "Because my mom died in a car accident a little while ago."

It seemed as if the room fell silent, but I know there were still plenty of noise (for I could see the lips moving on the other students). "Y-you're kidding, right?" Dave asked in disbelief. I shook my head no, and maintained an even breathing pattern so I would not begin to tear up. "Dude, sorry to hear that."  
I smiled at Dave, unsure how red my face had become from being mere seconds away from crying. "Don't be, it's in the past." I elbowed him gently as I once again gripped tightly onto my pencil to write, "Let's just work on the assignment for right now."

"Alright," Dave agreed, he was seconds away from writing down my life story. I noticed that his figure seemed as if it was being pulled down by a strengthen formed of gravity.

"Hey Dave," his vision did not change, but he made a small hum which told me I had his attention. "I know you don't like your story, and that you don't want others to know about it." Dave tilted his head just a few degrees to watch me. "I don't want to make up a fake life for you, but I know you'd hate it if here if everyone heard about your situation. So is it okay if I turn your story...into a happier one for them to hear?" It seemed as though I was betraying Dave's trust just by even suggesting this idea.

Dave shrugged his shoulders towards my comment, "Do whatever you want, Egderp." Dave went back to placing the leaded stick onto the paper, but hesitated for a moment. "If you want, Egderp, I could do the same for you."

I gave him a smile, before giving a mockingly-monotone voice. "Do whatever you want, Strider," then switched my attention back towards the blank paper.  
The area around us grew silent as both Strider and I worked diligently on the project. The only sound that we were producing were from our breaths and the rhythmic pattern from our pencils. The two of us finished minutes before the deadline, but neither of us could look the other in the eye. The second that Dave finished his paper, he slide his desk back into it's original position it was in before class started.

The class was made alert of the deadline having arrived as the room as spontaneously filled with an electrical beeping. The health teacher stood up from her seat, silencing the noise that had unsurprisingly been coming from her cellphone. "Alright Everyone, pass your papers to the front." She stopped by each row to collect the group of papers each student held. Afterwards she pulled a wooden stool towards the front of the class. With all the papers in her hands, she did her best to shuffle them into a randomized order without dropping any of them. Two minutes later, the stack of papers had been placed into a neatly, mixed pile with no pages sticking out from the perfectly layered papers.

"Okay, everyone. We're now going to see if you guys can guess who the person is after I'm done reading the paper." She pretended to squint to look at the paper, "That is, if I can even read your papers!" A few children chuckled at her silly remark, and I was no exception. I did my best to listen carefully to these papers, knowing it was the insight that I needed to see who could be deemed a new friend based off their stories. "Okay, here's the first paper."

_"Pranks, Tricks, Jokes, I love them all._  
_Been more than just a hobby since I was two feet tall._  
_Many people don't get my humor,_  
_but it's not my fault if their funny bones have a tumor._

_"While I could sit and play pranks all day,_  
_It's not what my destiny has shaped out into clay._  
_No, I'm destined for more._  
_I shall one day own my family store._

_"My Mom is down below,_  
_Been wanting to visit china since a long time ago._  
_She's always quiet,_  
_But she used to be quite the riot._

_"My Dad goes around to different nations,_  
_So much to a point that it's messed up his dictation._  
_He goes around the world with his suit and hat,_  
_Some days he forgets which time-zone he's at._

_"My Sister is a senior citizen,_  
_One who isn't afraid to break tradition._  
_She's prepared to make our country break,_  
_By using our family's special cake."_

The teacher shifted her attention back to the classroom, "Does anybody know who this could be?" Nobody in the classroom rose their hand, heads turning left and right so that they could find the person who knew the answer. "Nobody at all knows?" Once again the room was filled with silence, I turned my head towards Dave. It completely dumbfounded me how well he was able to present his piece, and how it followed a rhyming pattern that was almost like a poem.  
The teacher quickly abandoned the idea that any of her students would confess to knowing who the mysterious person was, and moved onto the the next page. I tuned out her voice, suddenly losing interest in the assignment. What felt like an eternity later, I lazily glanced up to see the wall clock which was positioned two feet to the right of the teacher. There was four minutes left till the dismissal bell was scheduled to ring. I kicked my hearing back on, and tuned into my surroundings.

"Alright everyone, it looks like we have enough time to read one more," the cheerful teacher announced towards the group of adolescents. I felt guilt build up in me, knowing that some of these kids probably put a lot of effort into their assignment and I should have given them more attention. I swore quickly that regardless of the paper, I would listen to every word from this paper.

_"Picture perfect isn't exactly my family's motto."_ I felt a blush burning onto my cheeks, I rushed to hide my face with both of my hands as I realized she was starting to read my paper about Dave. _"My Mom and Dad are both always out of town, traveling the world so that they can support our family. Mom is a famous writer, exploring the fantasies which lie inside the heads of others. She always has poor reception, so whenever she calls home she usually gets cut off. Dad is a rising actor, but all his films are produced overseas. Due to violence and language, his movies are ones kids will never see. I have three siblings, all of which are super weird. My older brother was a mix-martial arts master, winning state championships three years in a row. The dude decided that wasn't his style a while back, and has been just slacking ever since. My big sister is the most social of us all. She goes out partying all the time; that or she'll hang out with her best friends at the mall. My younger sister is well reserved, but will always make a smart-aleck comment when she sees fit. She's at the top of her class, but she did get there easily. This little girl always keeps a book to her nose. As for me, well I'm always doing my own little thing. I could care less of what anyone thinks; considering it's my life, and it's nobody's business on how I live it."_

The dismissal bell echoed inside the classroom. I leaned over and grabbed my backpack, hoping to get out of the classroom before anyone notices how red my face was. I never was comfortable with people reading my work out loud, even when it's something anonymous. My foot was hardly an inch outside the classroom before I heard someone calling out my name.

"Yo, Egderp, wait up." Dave responded in his cool-guy attitude. I turned back to face the guy, only to realize at the last second I was still in the middle of the doorway. A shoulder roughly shoved me backwards, the grouchy kid from yesterday apparently had little patients.

"Watch where you're going, fuckass!" Karkat hollered at my direction as he continued down the hall.

I opened up my mouth to apologize, but I felt a hand being placed onto my shoulder. My vision once again turned to come face-to-face with Dave Strider. The two of us stepped right outside the classroom, I began to turn left and proceed down the hall. "Wrong way, Egderp." Dave's voice called out to me.

I ran my fingers through my styled hair, carefully enough to not mess up my hard work. I gave Dave a sheepish smile as we proceeded to walk in the opposite direction I was heading. "Thanks for taking me to class. I probably would have gotten lost, had it not been for you." I responded honestly.  
Dave tilted his head downwards, his vision being filled with the tiled floor and our shoes. "Hey, Egderp?"

"Hm, what?"

"Thanks for not telling everyone about my actual life."

I saw a faint smile appear on his lips, and I couldn't help but feel a little proud for doing the right thing. "No, problem; and thanks for doing the same thing for me, and it was really cool on how you made yours rhyme. "I nudged Dave's arm as I continued "Who knows, maybe you'll be the next William Shakespeare, or even cooler, a rap artist!"

"Who knows, maybe I will, maybe I won't. Only time can tell." Although Dave was doing an amazing job on masking his expressions, I could easily tell that Dave was just as entertained by the idea as I was.

I directed my head towards the hallway again, delight still glowing on my face. "Now look up, Strider. I don't need _both_ of us getting lost going to my class."  
_  
While it may be a bit early to get Dave to fully open up, I could at least begin to build his trust._


	7. Chapter 7: I Warned You Bro

Chapter 7: I Warned You Bro

(October 1st)

I turned to face my left, Egderp was working up a storm as his eyes zoomed left to right over a series of notes. "Egderp, what are you doing?"

"What am I doing?" Egderp looked up, completely puzzled at my question. "What does it look like I'm doing? I'm studying for the music theory quiz we have in piano tomorrow!"

"I think you have your days mixed up. The test is on Friday, and today is only Wednesday," I leaned onto my left hand, perfectly hiding the smile that was threatening to show.

"Dave...check your phone, it's Thursday." I rolled my eyes at Egderp's comment, even if he couldn't see it, but went ahead and slid my phone out from my pocket. I slid my thumb across the photo of my siblings and I from last Halloween (we had dressed up as the four main Vocaloid characters). I was going to humor the guy, and show him just how wrong he was. I looked down, perfectly masking the smirk that I oh-so-dearly wanted to sport off, and I felt my heart drop to my stomach. On my phone, up in the top right corner, it announced that today was October 1st, a Thursday.

"Shit," I whispered under my breath when I fully comprehended that Egderp was right. Panic immediately ran throughout my system. I practically slammed my phone onto the desk as I rushed to get my IPad out of my black, messenger bag. I could care less if I broke the stupid phone, my parents wouldn't notice f I buy a new one or not. The only thing I could even remotely focus on was my comic, the only thing in this world that actually allowed me to be myself and that I wouldn't have to worry about people hating.

_Dammit, how could I let time slip past me like that? I mentally cursed myself out, it felt like only yesterday it was Monday. Seriously, how the fuck is it already Thursday?! Man, I never get this far behind on my work. I always work on this Wednesday after school, and finish it on Thursday. I must have been distracted helping Rose study for her AP history exam that I forgot what day it was. Shit, I have to hurry up, I've never updated late._

I removed the black and red protective-cover away from the screen, and held down power button. I entered my four digit password and watched as the photo of Rose and I making faces at the camera became engulfed with apps I had downloaded over the years. I scanned the page I was on, and located an app which symbol was a while notepad with a brush painting on it. I double tapped the icon with my pointer finger as I tried to calm my nerves. I located a stylist I kept in my backpack for the iPad. Once everything had fully booted up, I opened up a new folder and labeled it SBaHJ Part 31.

I thought for a brief moment on what I wanted to happen in the story. _None of the comics really corresponded with one another, so anything could happen. I could cause Sweet Bro to fall down the stairs again, no, I've done that that already a few times. Well, people do like the gimmick, so I could just probably change it up a bit. Like having Sweet bro and Hella Jeff get into circus acts. Jeff could warn Bro about trying to tame bears._ I shrugged my shoulders at my own remark, I was working with last second ideas, so of course I wouldn't be too picky. I began to outline the form of my two protagonists.

"Dave? What are you doing?" I jumped at the sound of my name. I turned to face Egderp, who was leaning over the side of his desk so that he could get a closer look at my iPad.

"What am I doing?" I felt puzzled, was it not obvious on what I was doing? "What does it look like? I'm working on my comic! I always update Thursday evening, and I'm way behind." It registered in my brain that this was essentially a role-reverse from the conversation a few minutes prior, had this been with Rose I would have probably pointed it out and shared a small laugh. _Considering Rose was practically the only person who I could trust that wouldn't hate me._ Images of Rose and I filled my head, the time the two of us threw ice cream out the old apartment window trying to hit strangers, when we would stay up all night playing Pokemon and other games, and my favorite memory being when the two of us were in preschool and we dressed as each other frequently to confuse the teacher. I sighed as I thought of how the two of us had separated over the years. _We were once joined to the hip, but now all she does is hang out with Kanaya almost every day of the week._

"Comic? That's so cool, Dave! What's the name of it?" The brunette's voice snapped me out of my thoughts, reminding me that I was in the middle of my health class and that I was just sitting their like an idiot with my iPad out for no apparent reason.

I looked down towards the ground, suddenly feeling embarrassed talking about the SBaHJ comic with someone else than Rose or Jade. "The name is Sweet Bro and Hella Jeff, it's a webcomic." My heart kept beating faster as I observe Egderp take out his phone, presumably to look up said comic. Will he like it? Will he think it's stupid like so many others have? I narrowed my eyes as I continued my thoughts, _Why do I care what he thinks? If he hates it, oh well, it's not like I want him to take an interest or anything. I probably only want him to like it so that way we finally have something different to talk about._ I took a small glance over towards Egderp, his eyes were glued to the screen as he stared in awe. _I don't even know what he likes, he probably only likes the type of comedy that branches straight off of scaring others._

I pretended not to care about Egderp's interests, considering I had other priorities at this point. The two of us remained silent as we both focused on our own thing. I had just finished the black and white outline of the panels when suddenly Egderp burst out into a fit of laughter.

"Dude, this is some seriously funny work!" He managed to state through his laughter. "Why didn't you tell me about this sooner?"

I opened up my mouth to respond, but a boy named Dick (Street name Ace Dick, due to his role in the Problem Sleuth Investigators Group), looked back towards Egderp and spoke up. "Because it's complete shit." Ace was a first generation Latin-American, he had dark brown hair and a matching set of green eyes. He was wearing the typical Problem Sleuth Investigators outfit, a white dress shirt with a black tie; while the other two members wear blue jeans Ace wore black skinny jeans. While the outfit looked slightly odd against his chubby form, it did provide him a more serious look.

I knew there was no reason to speak against him, I was fully aware of the haters that my comic had. I slid down into my seat by a few inches, fully preparing myself for Ace to continue his insults, but my ears perked up when I heard Egderp's voice speak instead. "That's not true, you just don't understand it," he spoke with a matter-of-fact tone.

Ace's frustration increased, and his bilingual abilities began to show and fluctuate. "How can anyone understand what that idiota writes? Everything es misspelled and drawn like it was done by a four year old. That blind chica, whatever sus nombre es, can draw better than him." I realized that he was talking about Terezi, considering she is notoriously known for harboring all the chalk she can find in this school to mark up "crime scenes."

"That's the whole point!" Egderp spoke on my behalf. "It's supposed to be an ironic twist and it gives it a comical feel in every page. If you didn't pick up on that, then it's your own fault."

"Or maybe he's just un completo dumbass who doesn't know how to write." Ace sneered at Egderp, grumbling about how he couldn't be bothered by a brat like him as he turned back towards his desk to continue playing on his phone. I felt my heart shatter, SBaHJ meant the world to me.

I refused to look up from my iPad, I just wished more than anything that I could stop time, then I could slip out of here without anyone noticing. Or possibly had the ability to turn invisible, then I could just hide in the bathroom till after school. It's not like anyone would genuinely care if I missed my classes.

The gods must have understood by plea, as the dismissal bell suddenly echoed the room. I gripped tightly onto my iPad as I stood up to leave the room. I felt exhausted, so my movements were slowed down. I waited patiently for the vast majority of the students to exit the classroom before I took a step forward.

"Dave, you okay?" I stopped in my tracks as I glanced at Egderp, who was clearly concern.

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" I lied with ease, it was second nature for me at this point. I pondered why Egderp would even ask such a ridiculous question. I mean, yeah, I was moving a bit slower than usual, but that can play into my "I'm to cool for school" attitude.

"You're crying." My eyes widened as I inspected my cheeks, sure enough when I dabbed my finger onto my face it became saturated with the salt-filled liquid. I held my breath as I knew that this could end badly if I didn't think of something reasonable within the next few seconds.

"Oh, what'd ya know, I guess I am." I gave Egderp a fake smile, "Don't worry about it, I accidentally bit my tongue a moment ago, guess I hurt myself a little is all."

Egderp looked at me, I remained cool on the exterior, as I tried not to freak out as I realized he wasn't buying my story. "Okay, hope you didn't hurt yourself too badly!" He responded gleefully, showing off his adorable smile as he waved me goodbye.

I held the iPad close towards my chest, walking out the classroom shortly after Egderp. He turned towards the right end of the hallway, and I had a feeling in my heart that I should talk to John. I don't know about what, but a sudden burst of adrenaline ran through my veins, giving me the motivation to speak. "Yo, Egderp." My voice a little uneven as I spoke without command.

"Hm?" John tilted his head to the side and he inspected me head to toe.

"Next time someone starts to bash me and my work." I pointed my right thumb towards me "Let me deal with my own fights. This one was just a petty fight, but it won't always be that simply, and you could get hurt if you try to get involved" I wasn't one for depending on others, and I wasn't going to start. _Besides that, had Egderp tried to talk to anyone else like that (such as someone from The Felt or The Midnight Crew) he could have gotten hurt._ I couldn't help but think back to a few days ago at the park when I got my busted lip, If Egderp were to try that with Caliborn, he could seriously get a broken rib. They dude is super scrawny and probably bruises like a tomato.

"Opps! Sorry Dave," Egderp scratched the back of his head as he chuckled. "I hadn't realize I didn't let you stand up for yourself. Sorry man, I just didn't like the guy bashing you or your talent was all. I did promise I wouldn't let people hurt you anymore, didn't I?" Egderp smiled again and turned away from me and proceed to his next class, "Cya later, Dave."

I was dumbfounded, I couldn't believe that he was speaking the truth the other day. Honestly it made no sense, we just met each other just a few days ago. I couldn't mean a single thing to him, we barely knew anything about each other. I felt a heat begin to form on my cheeks as I thought of what he said, it wasn't normal for complete strangers to just call each other "special."

I headed over towards my next class, considering there was no point in just standing in the middle of the hallway. I couldn't help but replay Egderp's words in my head. While it gave me an uncomfortable blush, it also provided me a warm feeling in my heart that I hadn't felt since I was a small child. I will admit, as much as I hated feeling dependent, it is nice to know that there is someone who genuinely cares about me. He's actually cool, and has a neat sense of humor.

_Maybe it won't be a bad idea to keep Egderp around._ I suddenly remembered the oddly colored lines that rest on my arms, and I began to feel cold and numb once more, crossing my arms in an effort to shield pain from entering my heart. _I just hope he wants to keep me around too._


	8. Chapter 8: Little Sister Knows Best

Chapter 8: Little Sister Knows Best

(October 1st, continued)

_He's not__ okay. I know he's not okay. So why isn't he telling me? Why doesn't anyone ever tell me? Doesn't he realize that I'm here for him? I don't care if we just met in person less than a week ago, he's still my friend._

"Are you alright, John?" Rose's composed voice pulled me away from my thoughts. "You have been just sitting there looking at your phone, you haven't even open your lunch box yet."

I used my left hand to try and rub out the headache I was forming. "Yeah, just a bit frustrated is all." I placed my phone to the right side of my lunch box. I had been looking at some of the Sweet Jeff and Hella Bro comic's Dave had posted, which were extremely hilarious in my opinion. I had hoped that reading them would allow me to feel better, considering laughter is the best medicine; but with each new page I could only remember the saddened look on Dave's face when that one kid began to bash his work.

"Well, could you relay to us as to what the problem is?" Kanaya held a motherly tone as she took a bite out of a red apple.

I contemplated if I should inform them on this morning's events. I took a deep breath, and allowed a long sigh to escape my throat. I opened my mouth to speak up, but Jade interrupted me.

"Oh my god! Is that Sweet Bro and Hella Jeff? Dude, I love that comic!" Jade beamed as she took my phone, her thumb slid upwards and right to left as she scrolled through the mobile pages.

My heart light up like a flame as I now had a perfect opportunity to talk about Dave's comic, but also avoid talking about the incident (thus, I won't betray Dave by telling people about him). "Yeah, Dave just showed me it this morning. It's hilarious, I can't wait to see what he uploads next."

"Yep," Jade nodded without giving me a glance. "And have you seen the t-shirts he made? They're the best!"

"T-shirts?" This was news to me, I hadn't realize that Dave was selling SBaHJ products.

"Oh yes, Dave's t-shirts are comical. I do believe there are currently two available for purchasing." Rose commented before finishing her tuna sandwich.

"Here John, check them out." Jade practically shoved my phone into my face as she tried to show me the aforementioned t-shirts.

"Okay, okay, give me a moment." I took the phone from Jade and observed the sales page closely. Rose was correct on their only being two shirts, one black and one white. The black one had a picture of Hella Jeff's face and a caption beneath him which read "I WARNED YOU BRO!" and the white shirt was a picture of the duo with their backs touching, arms crossed, and both wearing sunglasses with a caption that said "Haters Gonna Hate."

I looked over towards Jade, who was fidgeting in her seat waiting for me response. "Aw man, Jade, these really are the best. Oh!" An idea popped into my head, and I swiftly moved around so that I could reach into my backpack. I pulled out a Legend of Zelda themed wallet, and pulled out my debit card. I looked over the plastic piece for a moment, it held a picture of a yellow smiley face winking as he stuck his tongue out._ I remember, mom was the one who picked out the theme when she decided we were old enough to have our own bank accounts._

I gave Jade a grin as she looked at me completely puzzled. "What are you planning, Egbert?"

"Just thinking about how I'm going to buy these rad t-shirts."

Jade's expression turned into that of a child on Christmas, "Cool! Hey, if I hand you some cash can you get me one?"

"Sure, why not?" The second I confirmed our agreement, she began to dig around her messenger bag and retrieved her wallet that was printed "I Solemnly Swear That I Am Up To No Good." "Hey, John, how much are the shirts."

I looked down at my screen once more, "They're both ten dollars each after shipping and handling is added."

Jade pulled out a ten dollar bill and handed it to me, "Get me the White t-shirt then, I think it's the funnier one."

"Can do." I happily gripped onto Jade's money and placed it safely into my wallet. I then proceeded to add Jade's request to my cart. I decided that both shirts were equally amazing, and choose to add both to the cart for myself.

"John?" My vision shifted towards Rose, but my eyes were greeted with another ten dollar bill. "Would it be alright if I also had a white t-shirt?" As the bill was lowered, I saw Rose's gently look. "I believe this would be a perfect opportunity to bond with Dave, considering he does enjoy knowing that people like his work."

"Yeah!" I grinned from ear to ear, it was good to know that Rose and I were essentially on the same page. I once again added a white t-shirt to my chart, and proceeded to check out. I scanned over all of the information about the order. "Okay, so it looks like it will be coming in on Monday. So I should be able to give them to you guys on Tuesday." I looked up at Rose and Jade, "Does this work for you guys?"

"Wait, John, have you made the purchase yet?" Kanaya spoke up, suddenly having an interest in the conversation.

"No, not yet. I wanted to read the shipping information before I purchased it."

Kanaya pulled out a small, black wallet, and pulled out two five dollar bills. "May I please have the black shirt?"

Rose giggled as she watched her girlfriend hand over the money. "What's this Kanaya? I thought you despised wearing t-shirts that weren't made from the finest of materials." Rose put an emphasis on the word "finest" to imply that that she was merely teasing the older girl.

Kanaya held a faint blush on her cheeks and refused to look Rose in the eyes. "The shirt itself may seem hideous in some ways. But, I do believe this is due to Dave's attempt to make it more ironic. At worst, I can wear the t-shirt as a pyjama shirt."

"Good idea, Kanaya!" Jade gleamed, and she turned to face her left and tapped onto Karkat's shoulder.  
Karkat looked sharply at Jade, visibly irritated on his conversation with Gamzee being interrupted. "What the fuck do you want, Jade?"

"You like Dave's comic, right? Wanna buy a t-shirt with us? They're only ten dollars," Jade quickly turned back and held out an open hand. "Hey John, can I see your phone?"

I complied with her request as I once again left my phone in Jade's care. Jade then handed over the phone to the grumpy adolescent. Karkat examined the phone before responding to Jade. "Fine, I'll get one of the god damn black ones. Give me a fucking moment to get the money." Karkat reached into his pocket to find the correct number of dollars. Meanwhile Gamzee had been looking at the shirt over Karkat's shoulder.  
Gamzee cracked a wide grin as he began to chuckle. "Man, motherfucker, those shirts have the miracles. Right Tavbro?" The stoned teenager turned to the other side to face the young freshmen who was sitting across from him.

Tavros, the teenager in question, looked up confused for he had been too busy eating his peanut butter and jelly sandwich. "Uhm, what did you say, G-gamzee?" Tavros, as I had learned recently, was a quiet and well reserved child.

"These fucking T-shirts Dave sells, Gamzee thinks their magical or some shit." Karkat stated as he handed the phone over towards Tavros. Karkat then looked over at the elder teen beside him "So are you going to buy one or what?"  
Gamzee's eyes light up at Karkat's words, mostly likely the thought had not yet registered in his brain. The stoner then began the hunt to search for money in his pockets, and discovered a twentie. With a large grin he faced Tavros's "Hey Tavbro, want me to buy you a t-shirt?"

"Oh Gamzee you don't-" The younger man was cut off as the louder man leaned past Karkat to hand me the money. "Two of those miracle looking ones motherfucker!" The blonde smiled wildly as he handed me the cash.

"Gamzee...you didn't tell him which color." The timid brunette spoke up.

"OH, SHIT!" Gamzee stated with a pause between the words. The loud tone startled the others sitting around him. "Sorry, motherfucker, two of the black one's please!" The blonde went back to his happy-go-lucky tone as he believed everything was alright again.

"Black what?" Nepeta asked, the short, chestnut haired girl was moments from eating her gold fist, but became distracted from the blonde's outburst.

Karkat facepalmed at his best friends actions, grumbling about how annoying they can be. "Dave's comic, you know, the one with the two purposely poorly drawn characters." Nepeta nodded happily as she knew what Karkat was talking about. Tavros handed the phone over to Nepeta now as Karkat continued.

"We're ordering some shirts that have the characters on them."

"That's so neat, Karkitty." Nepeta smiled innocently, clearly knowing that Karkat despised the nickname. She observed the phone, expression never being any less than joyful. The tiny girl faced the tall man beside him, commonly known as Equius. "I think I'll get one. What do mew think Equius?" She openly questioned her close friend, still continuing to make her cat puns.

"Nepeta, you certainly do have an exquisite taste in fashion," Equius laughed lightly. "But I do think I shall partake in this," Equius turned his head forward to face a young asian girl. "Aradia, would you like for me to purchase a shirt for you as well?"

Aradia smiled lightly, "I would greatly appreciate that, thank you Equius." She nodded her head towards the sophomore.

Equius handed Nepeta a twenty color bill so she could pass it down the table. By the time the money reached me, it had been raised by another ten dollars as Nepeta chipped in. Rose relayed a message to me that the trio also wanted the black t-shirt.

I leaned over to ask for my phone back, but realized that Vriska had swiped it now. "So cool kid is finally selling t-shirts?" She laughed outloud, I counted roughly 8 distinct "ha's" before she settled. "Terezi, you want one or not? You can pay me back later, i just knoooooooow how much you love that ridiculous comic."

"How do I know that you're buying me a t-shirt?" The blind girl pondered.

"Terezi, it's because you somehow know everything. So don't act like you don't know what's happening."

As the duo began to bicker at one another, Sollux had managed to stealthily remove the phone from Vriska once she placed it onto the table. He, Feferi and Eridan began to discuss the t-shirts as well.

My headache once again came about, and I decided it was time for a break. I handed Rose my wallet as I stood up. "If people give you money, put it in my wallet. And can you-" I was going to ask her to keep track on what shirts everyone wanted while I was gone, but I realized that she had a notebook out and a pen, writing down everyone's names and what they were buying. "Never mind, I'll be back."

Man, I mean, it's a good thing that so many people want to buy a shirt to support Dave. But, well, I just felt like something was going to happen soon.

Something I wasn't going to want to deal with, and I had this feeling that it was going to involve that group that Jade always hangs out with.

I took a deep breath and decided that I had spent enough time avoiding going back to the group. It had been approximately five minutes since I left, which was why I was completely stunned to not only see my older sister, cousin, and the two elder Striders at the group, but also another 14 strangers were there as well. At a closer look I realized that they shared a shocking resemblance to the 12 teenagers that I had recently met, well, all except two that is. The first one was a few inches shorter than Jane and stand closely to Roxy, gripping tightly onto her arm. The mysterious girl had a green jacket on, and had silver hair. The other girl was sitting beside Rose, having her blonde hair pulled up into a ponytail and her tiny frame was covered by a grey sweater.

I was left frozen in my tracks as I watched all of the teenagers talking among one another. Luckily, the bell to end lunch had finally rung, causing the large group to disburse. Once everyone began to clear out, I headed towards my seat. I grabbed my lunch box (which I then realized it's contents I hadn't eaten) and placed it into my backpack.

"John?" Rose spoke towards me.

I glanced at her and gave a faint smile, I sighed in relief that in her hands were my phone and wallet. "Thanks Rose. I was only gone for five minutes, how did so many people show up?"

Rose giggled once more when she handed me my belongings. "Dave left for the library, so Dirk and them came over to talk, when Dirk and Roxy saw what you were doing they called over all their other friends." She pulled out a folded up piece of paper from her pocket. "Here, this is everyone's orders, as well as their appropriate t-shirt size."

I grinned from ear to ear at her once I received the note. "Man, this is going to get Dave so stoked!"

The two of us walked out of the cafeteria, Rose nodding at my remark. "Indeed, this event will cause Dave to reconsider his friendship with you once he discovers that you were the one responsible for having his comic sell forty t-shirts in one day."

I did a double take as I replayed her words again in my head. "FORTY? How?!" I stared intensely at the paper as I realized it would be the one who was capable of answering my question.

"It was a good sales day, don't worry about it." Rose paused for a moment, "Besides, shouldn't your focus be on Dave himself? You are the one who wants to make him happy again, how do you plan on doing that if you're preoccupied by the number of t-shirts you've sold?"

"You're right, Rose. I can't be distracted by how many shirts I sell, I need to focus on the fact that something like this needs to happen to show Dave that there are people who take an interest in him and care." I stated as I placed the paper back into my pocket.

"John." Rose spoke with an uncertain voice, as if she was unsure to state something or not.

"Yes?"

"Would you like to join our sleep over next week? When I say "we" I mean Dave, Jade and I. We do one every other Friday at Dave and I's home, Kanaya joins us sometimes when she is able to. I think everyone would have a brighter night if you joined us."

"I would love to, Rose. But it won't be too weird, right?"

"If you mean the fact that Jade and I will be attending, then no, it will not be weird. Jade is your cousin who you have showed no signs of having romantic thoughts over, and I am a lesbian who is currently in a relationship. You are also far from being a stranger to me, since I have being hearing stories about you since the two of us became friends in middle school. The only way it would be weird for you to come is if either Dave your or confessed to having romantic feelings."

"Rose, I'm not a homosexual." I stated with a hint of a agitation.

"I never said you were, I just stated that would be the only reason to why your presence would be awkward." Rose smiled towards me.

"Oh shush already," I playfully yelled at her. "I'll go unless my dad says otherwise. What day is it on again?"

"Next Friday after school. I went ahead and placed my phone number into your phone earlier so you could message me as needed."

"Alright then, it's set! Cya Rose," I waved goodbye to Rose as we parted at the intersecting hallways.

_A little over a week till the sleepover, what's the worst that can happen before then?_

**A.N. Hello Everyone, guess what? I found my beta reader again; by the way TheRoyalAwesomeness, you don't suck in any way (you're seriously the coolest beta-reader I've ever worked with). I will be updating as soon as possibly, but I cannot tell you when that will be. And Fanfictiongirl1357, shhh, patients my child, *spoilerish-thing warning,* that was going to happen anyways, so shhhhhh, calm down with the capital letters. -Alois**


	9. Chapter 9: Revenge is Sweet

Chapter 9: Revenge is Sweet

(October 6th)

"Rose, why are you in here?" I lazily glanced up at my younger twin. Said twin was currently sitting on my desk with her legs cross, she delicately placed a note card into the book she was reading before laying it on her lap. At a closer look of the cover, I realized it was our mother's most recently published book.

"John has something of mine, he informed me to come here so that I may retrieve it." Rose's vision shifted towards the ceiling. "I may as well get Kanaya's possessions as well. I do hope John remembered to get everything."

I eyed her suspiciously, "What does Egderp have? You guys don't have any classes together except Spanish, but I didn't think you guys had a project in there." I tried to think back to the last few day's of conversations with Rose and Egderp; both of which had been in a state of glee since Thursday, but wouldn't tell me what's up.

"I bought a garment the other day, as did a few others. John was the one who made the purchase, and according to him the package came in yesterday." Rose kept eyeing the classroom entrance, knowing very well that John would be entering any moment.

"So that's why you two have been happier than usual," I murmured as I became aware of a smudge on my sunglasses. I pulled them away from my face, squinting for a few seconds as I came readjusted to the brighter surrounding, and began to clean them with my sleeve.

Rose hummed for a moment before she let off a small smirk. "You could say that is the cause for our excitement, but I do believe the real reason is due to the fact that John will be joining us on this week's sleepover."  
I stared at her, my eyes the size of saucers, as I looked for any evidence for her to be joking. I felt anger being to build up in my chest. "What? Rose, did you or did you not invite Egderp to the sleepover."

Rose smiled innocently at me, "I thought you told me I could invite whoever I wanted as long as it was not Gamzee, Eridan, Equius, Vriska, or anyone you have dated."

My red eyes glared into her pink eyes, "Don't try to play dumb, you know damn well that I don't want Egderp at our house Friday night." I placed my now clean sun glasses onto my face once more.

"Why Dave?" Her features took that of a serious undertone. "Are you scared that John will find out your little secret?"

I felt a nauseous feeling appear in my stomach as my whole body froze. "I don't know what you're talking about." I mentally sighed in relief when I managed to say all of my words without a single stutter.

"David, don't lie to me. I've known for months, and so has Dirk." She removed the hard covered book from her lap and placed in beside her. "We haven't told Roxy yet, and both Kanaya and Jade have been suspecting," she spoke barely above a whisper.

I let out a deep sigh, "Fine, you're right. I don't want him to know." I couldn't bear looking at Rose, and directed my attention towards my shoes.

"Dave?" I ignored my sibling. "Dave, please look at me." I glanced up to see Rose's sadden eyes. I felt my hands press against something warm, I realized that Rose had entangled our fingers. "Trust me when I say that there are people who care about you. None of us like to see you in pain, especially John." Rose gave out a weak laugh, "Ever since I got back onto pesterchum Friday, John has done nothing but talk about you."

I tried to swallow the growing lump in my throat, "Like what exactly?"

Rose's shoulders slumped as she continued. "About the bullying." Tears began to form at the corner of her eyes. "Dave, I thought you told me that all of that had stopped." Her voice was full of hurt.

I felt the oh-so-familiar feeling of guilt over coming my body, and I leaned my head onto her arm. "I'm sorry Rose, I didn't want you guys to worry."

Rose's fingers slipped away from mine, and I soon felt her fingers tilt my chin upward. "Dave, we worry because we care. So please, let me invite John, it'll do you some good. I promise." Her voice was gentle, I realized now that she had stopped her tears, but it left her cheeks slightly flushed.

A numb feeling overtook all of my pain, "Fine." The response barely left my lips before a junior walked in. He had a black vest over top of a white dress shirt, midnight colored pants, and a matching black scar placed over his right eye, although the mark had been made weeks prior it still looked fresh. His hair had been dyed black and was slicked back. I groaned as I realized who the intruder was. Bec Noir, twin brother to Jack Noir, and a member of the notorious Noir Duo.

He was also Jade's ex-boyfriend.

The gangsterioust man's eyes scanned around the room till his eyes landed onto Rose and I. "Where's Jade?" He snarled at us.

"She's not in this class. So beat it," I responded back to the furious man.

"Bullshit, I know she comes here every morning. So where the hell is she." Bec took a step closer towards us, in response I stood up from my seat, there was currently ten feet between us.

I walked forward three steps, cutting out two feet between him and I. "She's not here, and if she was, she wouldn't want to see your sorry ass. So get out," I pointed my arm towards the door, my voice sounded even but anyone could tell there was a hint of frustration.

"Dave don't-" Rose started, but I turned towards her.

"It's fine Rose, just don't get in the way," I instructed my baby sister before I pointed my attention back to Bec.

"Jade doesn't love you anymore, so leave her alone."

"What the hell do you know, Queerbie?" Bec growled, "You don't know a damn thing about who she likes."

"I know that she doesn't love you. If she did, she wouldn't of given you that scar when you wouldn't leave her alone." I tilted my head to the left as I crossed my arms, "Last time I checked, people who love each other don't give one another scars while screaming 'Stay the hell away from me' when their lives feel threatened."

I must of hit a nerve with the guy, because three seconds later Bec had completely closed off the space as he threw his fist at me. I realized it seconds too late as I felt a sharp pain enter my left cheek. My body was thrown onto a nearby desk, I heard Rose gasp as I regained my footing. I shoved my entire body weight against his, catching him off guard and successfully shoving us both against the ground.

Two hands were pressed roughly against my chest, forcing me off of the older adolescent. Both of us stood up, prepared to continue the fight. Bec was the first to move once more as again lifted his fist to attack. He was inches away from my face when we heard a familiar voice.

"STOP! Oh my god, what do you guys think you're doing?" Jade's panicked voice filled the room. I looked over and saw both Egderp and Jade standing in the doorway, Jade dropped the brown box she was holding and stomped over towards us. Her eyes became filled with rage as she saw the bruise forming on my cheek.  
Jade turned towards Bec and jabbed her pointer finger into his chest. "I thought I told you to stay away!"

"Jadey, I just wanted us to talk." Bec tried to keep a gentle voice as he addressed his old lover. "We use to be so happy together, I just want that again."

"I thought I made things clear when I gave you that mark on your face when you visited me covered in blood and drunk out of your mind. I hate you, I swear to god Bec, I'm going to get a restraining order on you." Jade's left arm extended towards my direction as she continued her rant. "And you have the audacity to hurt my friends, I want you out of this room in the next ten seconds before I start to kick your ass from here to New fucking Zealand."

Bec glared at me as he walked out the door, muttering curse words with every step he took. Once the older teen had completely left the room I became surrounded by three hysterical teenagers.

"Does it hurt?" Egderp eyed my cheek as closely as he could get without completely invading my personal space.

"Did he hit you anywhere else?" Jade's voice had toned down from the enraged one it was seconds ago, but she was still clearly irritated at what had happened.

"Dave, you're a complete idiot!" Rose informed me as she gently pushed her cool fingers against the offended skin.

I winced ever so slightly from the pressure.

"Thank you for reminding me, Rose." I rolled my eyes, and was momentarily thankful that I did not see any visible marks on my glasses from the attack.

The four of us went momentarily silent before Egderp decided to speak up. "So...who was that?"

Jade took a step back before addressing her cousin's question. "That was Bec, he's my ex-boyfriend, I broke up with him a month ago."

The younger teen looked puzzled, "I understand that the guy's a jerk, but what caused you to break it off with him?"

"He's part of a gang called the Noir Duo, it's just him and his older brother Jack. You know about the fights between The Felt and The Midnight Crew, right?" When her cousin nodded his head, she continued. "The Noir's have a cousin, known as Spades Slick, who's part of the Midnight Crew, but that doesn't mean much. They don't like many people, and will hurt anyone if you pay them enough." Jade gritted her teeth as she continued. "I turned a blind eye to it, and I regret not leaving him sooner. Him and his brother would always visit my house drunk, he even threatened Jake once. So I broke up with him, but he wouldn't stop.

"After a week that we broke up he came to my house again, with a knife; He tried to threaten Jake to let him in to see me, when he wouldn't leave and tried to stab Jake I decided I had enough, I took his knife and gave him a taste of his own medicine." She finished off her story with a small smirk at the memory.

Our ears were once again filled with the unwelcomed silence, I glanced at all three of my friends expressions; without surprise they all seemed agitated. I remembered the brown containers that Egderp and Jade were holding onto earlier, and decided it was time to change topics.

"So, Egderp." The brunette jumped when I called for his attention, "What's in the boxes?"

Immediately I noticed a change in the atmosphere as the three distraught teens were brought to a state of joy at the mention of the box. Egderp looked around onto the floor, searching for the long forgotten boxes that had been dropped in the heat of the moment. He let out a small "aha" as he located one of the boxes, which had obviously been notably resealed since it's original packaging, on it had a piece of paper taped to one of the top flaps.

Grinning from ear to ear John brought the box towards one of the nearby desks, placing it down and removing the tape. "We'll you remember how you showed me the Sweet Bro and Hella Jeff comic on Friday?" I visibly gave him a nod, signaling him to continue. "Well, Jade and Rose showed me this other site that was attached to your page."

John began to separate the two connecting flap's on top of the box, "And thought it would be really neat to get some specialized shirts." John was barely able to contain his excitement as he spoke.

_A "specialized shirt?" And didn't Rose mention that she was getting a piece of garment? This doesn't make any sense, why won't they just tell me what the hell did they bought?_ My eye's widened behind my glasses as it finally clicked in my head what they could have bought. _But they couldn't have, it just doesn't make sense. I would have known if they did, My phone always tells me when someone makes a purchase._

I was pulled out of my thoughts as I realized that Egderp began to fiddle with his jacket's zipper. It seemed odd that he would be wearing a jacket with the current weather outside, low seventies all day; but then again, I didn't have much room to talk (considering I wore a long sleeved shirt wherever I went). As he pulled the zipper all the way to the base of its lining, my suspicions were confirmed, underneath his thin jacket was a SBaHJ t-shirt. "So we purchased a _hella_ lot of these."

I honestly didn't know how to respond, this wasn't how I was expecting to start my day. First I get the news that Egderp was hanging with us Friday night, then I get into a (brief) fight with Jade's ex-boyfriend, and now I'm watching as John is grinning ear to ear as he wears a t-shirt that I designed and is trying to make ridiculous puns. I couldn't help it, but I a started to a quiet giggle, which transformed into a chuckle, and before I knew it I was roaring with laughter. But I wasn't alone, the others joined me during my laughing fit knowing the situation too was an odd one.

I used one of my index fingers to wipe away the tears that had begun to roll down my cheeks from my laughter. I missed this feeling, pure joy give to you from friends, it light a small light inside my heart. After a few minutes I finally managed to even my breathing and addressed my friends. "I can't believe you guys bought those old shirts."I shook my head with a warm smile spread across my face.

"We weren't the only one's to buy a shirt." Egderp informed me as he handed a white t-shirt to both Jade and Rose.

"That is correct; a total of thirty-three people purchased shirts, but forty were bought in total." Rose added as she slipped off her normal black t-shirt to reveal a purple, spaghetti strapped tank top, but quickly covering her form with the baggy t-shirt.

"Forty?" I whispered the word as I comprehended the number. I could hardly believe it, I never thought that I would ever sell that many t-shirts in my life, I just can't accept it as the truth.

"Yep! Forty!" Jade confirmed as she copied Rose in switching her outfit.

"John, don't forget the other t-shirt." Rose informed the other as she was given (what I assume is) Kanaya's t-shirt. Egderp looked puzzled for a moment as he slowly lipped out different names, most likely mentally going over the list of people of which he needed to give t-shirts to.

Finally the lightbulb went off in his head once he realized what Rose was hinting at him. In a blink of the eye Egderp was searching threw the box once more, and pulled out a slightly larger version of the shirt that the three of them had been wearing. "Here you go, Dave!"

My ear's twitched when I realized that he had directed the comment at me, my arms were welcomed with the soft fabric of the shirt as Egderp practically threw the piece of garment at me. I realized that I was somewhat expected to join them on wearing the piece of clothes, the only issue was that I didn't want Egderp and Jade to see my scars if I took of my shirt.

"Hm, I'll wear it later. It's a little too cold for my liking to be wearing a regular t-shirt." I still gave them all a half-smile.

"You dumdum, just put it over your shirt!" Jade beamed.

"Over...my shirt?"

"Yeah silly, like this." Without even given permission, Jade swiped the shirt from my grasp and manipulating my arms so that they were placed above my head. I couldn't even respond as she swiftly pulled the shirt over my head and had it placed evenly over my (now) undershirt.

"Thank you, Jade. There was no way I could have done that on my own." I informed her with a touch of friendly sarcasm.

"I know, which is why I did it for you." My ears became filled with the words of Can't Hold Us by Macklemore as Jade pulled out her phone. Her thumb swiped across the screen, silencing the song. "Hey Rose, looks like it's time for us to go." Jade informed the female blonde before giving Egderp and I a quick hug. "Bye guys, see you later!" She announced as she and Rose left the classroom, taking one of the two boxes with her.

I turned around and headed back towards my desk, after fixing up the small mess caused by the fight ten minutes prior. Once I sat down, I witnessed Egderp walked back towards the wall of the classroom as well. He struggled to find a proper place for the box around us, but eventually made it fit.

The shorter guy was grinning wildly as he sat down. But his positive attitude changed once he looked over at me. I mentally cursed as I realized I had a forming bruise on my cheek.

"Are you sure you don't need ice?" Egderp gave me a sympathetic look.

I shook my head and opened my mouth to respond, but a masculine voice beat me to it, "Oh, did little baby Davey get a boo-boo?" The hispanic man laughed at his own words. "Did you get hurt trying to play with the big kids?" The shorter man's grin faded into that of a angry glare as he saw the t-shirts we were wearing. "All in all, dipshits like you probably deserved it." Ace declared as he sat down in front of Egderp.

I did my best to ignore Ace's comments, I was in no mood to get into a second fight, especially over something as petty as this. Most of class was uninteresting, hardly anything out of the norm happened. Egderp gave Karkat his shirt, which caused both Karkat and I to feel the awkward tension as he walked away. Neither of us could look the other in the eyes, and Egderp picked up on something being off.

"Why do you guys always act so weird around one another?" Egderp pondered aloud.

"Thought someone would have told you by now," my tone very laxed as I shrugged my shoulders. "Karkat and I just haven't gotten along for a while now." I couldn't summon the courage to tell him the truth, it's already been an emotional morning as is.

"But why?"

The sound of a chair being harshly dragged across the ground distracted me as I watched Ace get up from his chair.

The hispanic man turned back to comment, "Obviously nobody likes a queer." The chubby man left the room with a satisfied look on his face.

"Honestly, what the hell is his problem?" Egderp murmured before accidentally knocked his pencil off his desk as he gestured towards Ace.

I leaned over the side of my chair to pick up the mechanical pencil, but Egderp stopped me. "No, no. It's fine, I got it," he gave me a happy-go-lucky smile as he leaned over his chair.

I guess the pencil was in an odd angle for him, fore it took a minute or two before the boy sat back up. His smile had not faded one bit as he placed his pencil safely in his backpack.

Now that I think about it, why did he have his pencil out in the first place? It wasn't like he was working on homework or anything. Meh, he most likely was just keeping it out to mark off the list he has with him. I decided to not pay much more attention to "situation" (considering there was nothing significant about it).

Egderp and I decided to engage in small-chat for the rest of the class period. Ace came back, presumably from the bathroom, and for some odd reason Egderp couldn't take his eyes off of the hispanic man. I figured that it was just more of Egderp trying to "stick-up-for-me" from Ace's previous comments, so I decided not to say anything.

At the end of class, everything seemed normal. Egderp and I were in the middle of a debate of either Con Air was a good movie or not. We were only a few feet away from the door when a huge thump and a series of curse words. I turned my head, fully expecting Karkat tripping over a chair, a situation which has already happened twice this year.

What I had not expected to see was Ace was currently standing next to a pile of lop sided tables and chairs as he swore extremely loudly. The remaining students in the classrooms burst out into a fit of laughter. Ace's face turned into a deep shade of red from the mix feelings of anger and embarrassment. The adolescent attempted to defend himself by stating that his backpack had gotten caught.

I tilted my head to the side as I realized that he was struggling to grab his backpack, and the boy gained a sour look as the teacher began to scold him. Egderp practically dragged me out from the classroom, soon going back to our conversation that had been interrupted by Ace's outburst.

I thought that the eventful morning would have been the end of it. But unsurprisingly enough, I witnessed a series of odd events happen to students.

_At first, it seemed like an unlucky day for students. Itchy went face first into his food after he tripped over his own shoes during lunch. Egg's got bombarded when all twelve of his timers went off in history, as well as a phone reminder that chimed in with the song "Barbie Girl" playing at max volume. Biscuits flipped out after he ate some odd oreo's. Even Clover had the misfortune of having his normal shoes get replaced with tap shoes after gym class (which Clover had actually not seemed originally upset about till he learned his regular shoes had been placed in front of the school entrance)._

I couldn't shake off this feeling that these were more than just coincidences, considering all three had happened to members of the Felt. It almost seemed like all of these were intentional events, but I couldn't figure out exactly who would have done it. The whole school had something against the gangsterous groups at the school, but few were even brave enough to look them in the eyes.

I was currently sitting in the main piano room, my last class of the day. I had finished up all my semester assignments for the class, and decided to just take it easy for the moment. I felt a light tap on my shoulder, disrupting my relaxed composer. I glanced up to see Egderp grinning  
as he normally does.

"Hm?" I felt to tired to properly respond, looking forward to going home and getting some sleep. My face was still hurting a little from the fight, and it has caused me to recieve nothing but weird looks and whispers surround me.

"Have you seen what's been going on today?" His voice sounded eager.

"You mean the things with the Felt? How could I not when all this school does is gossip."

"Well, what do you think of it?"

I shrugged my shoulders as I looked at the ground. "Probably some prankster trying out some cheap tricks."

Out of the corner of my eye I could tell that Egderp was looking at me wide eyed. "Cheap Tricks? Dude, you call someone hacking into another guys phone to make his phone play Barbie Girl; and managed to take some kids shoes, completely undetected, and have them hang outside the school cheap tricks?"

I cringed mentally as I realized I most likely had offended Egderp; considering he was a prankster himself, he probably idolized the guy who did this. I knew immediately that I had picked the wrong phrasing, and decided to fix my mistake. "Nah, it's not that I see them as cheap tricks, it would take serious skill to do what he did. No, whoever did it probably only showed us his weaker cards, saving his ace for another day."

"You really think so?" Egderp pondered as he sat beside me. "Makes me wonder what he'll do next then." Egderp beamed as he imagined different scenarios of which the prankster would partake in.

I nodded in agreement with his comment, "Me, too."

"Oh, so Dave," Egderp beamed as the two of us started to prepare ourselves for the dismissal bell.

"What?" I checked the time on my phone, noting that we still had four minutes left.

"Rose said she told you about Friday." Egderp sheepishly looked at the ground.

"About you staying with us? Yeah, she told me. What about it?" I carefully placed my school bag across my shoulders.

"Well, remember how we were talking about Con Air?" After confirming his question,I motioned him to continue.

"Would it be okay if I bring the movie on Friday?" His voice revealed that he held high hopes.

I rolled my eyes, which I knew clearly that he was unable to see. "Please do, maybe then I'll convince you how horrible the movie is."

Egderp chuckled towards me as we walked towards the exit door. "Or maybe I'll have you join the Nicholas Cage side."

The room was filled with the routinely bell sound as students rushed out the door, I waved off to Egderp. "Doubt it, Egderp. But we'll see who's right Friday. Cya." I managed to locate my younger twin outside of the school. It was the same place we met every day as we awaited Dirk and Roxy so that we could avoid taking the bus home.

The shorter blonde looked up from me, her normal "professional" look plastered across her face. "So Dave, how was your day?"

I adjusted my sunglasses, which had fallen ever so slightly down my nose. "Besides this morning, fine."

"Did you help John pass out any of the t-shirts?"

I shook my head as I looked around for our older siblings, "Nah, but I saw all the shirts that Egderp passed out." I chuckled under my breath "Never thought I'd see someone like Kankri wearing a SBaHJ product." I remembered the odd image of the senior wearing the t-shirt as he and Porrim had one of their typical arguments over equality and prejudiced societies.

"That's good, what did you think of the experience?" Her therapist tendencies were showing again, but I allowed her to indulge herself.

"Wasn't too bad, nice to know that 150 dollars went to charity." I had set up the online account so that all the proceeds (after the company took their portion) went to a charity to end world hunger.

"Agreed, that is indeed good to know."

"Oh, and Rose." I spoke up before silence could come between us.

"Yes, Dave?" Curiosity was being masked by her polite tone.

"You were right this morning." My vision shifted upwards to where Clover's shoes were. "I'm not exactly sure why yet. But I do think it'll be best if Egderp does hang with us on Friday."

"I thought so," Rose murmured. Rose smirked at me as she knew this was another situation to add to her "I'm always right" file.

"Just beware, we'll have to watch Con Air. Egderp and I are trying to prove who's right about the movies quality." I witnessed as my elder brother called over Rose and I so that we could leave.

"That will certainly make for an interesting night." Rose was clearly amused by the idea. The two of us had started to head over to our siblings car.

I smiled half-heartedly as I pictured how this weekend was going to turn out. "That it will."

_All we have to do now, is wait till the time is right to see what will happen._


	10. Chapter 10: Mischief Managed

Chapter 10: Mischief Managed

(October 8th)

I felt a strong sense of satisfaction as I walked down the halls. I pulled out my phone and loaded up my notes. On there was a recently edited list labeled 'Independent Study,' I double tapped the list to reveal a series of names. If anyone in this school happened to look at this list, they would have realized it was all the names from the three top gangs: The Felt, Midnight Crew, and Noir Duo. Most of the names had a black line marked through them, all except three.

Make that two. I openly smirked as I placed a line across the name of my most recent victim, Crowbar. It wasn't easy, considering he was always on his guard. I almost got caught switching out his clothes when he was in weightlifting. I muffled my laughter as best as I could as I remembered the image of Crowbar walking around in a Hello Kitty t-shirt and hot pink pants (an outfit he was forced to wear when the gym teacher refused to let the student walk around in his boxers).

After recomposing myself, I observed the remaining two names on the list. The first was Snowman. There's no point on attacking her, considering she's done no harm to anyone outside of the mafia. I would be no better than the people I'm trying to take down if I go and try to embarrass an innocent person. I scrolled around the list and finally located the final victim of my wrath.

Caliborn. The man who first started my hatred for those who hurt Dave. I left him last, knowing well that his would be the most satisfying victory. I already had a plan for what I was going to do to the asshole. I had discovered the day before that Caliborn was a fan of coca-cola, so I made him a specialized drink.

I placed my cellphone back into my pocket and retrieved the plastic bottle from my backpack. I stared at the plastic bottle in my hand. At first glance it seemed like any other soda, but the soft drink was composed of soy sauce and corn syrup. I examined the lid, which I had to carefully remove so that it did not look like the bottle had been unsealed. I looked up from the bottle to examine my surroundings. I had managed to walk down to the school's courtyard.

There was three curved walls around the yard, standing two feet high and were spread into a position to form an open circle. On the far left wall was the spot where the felt members were known to hang out. Only a few students were in the yard; not many were a fan of being so openly close to the gang. Snowman and Clover were the only ones near the wall at the moment. The two were in the middle of a normal conversation, and so I quickly located the soda bottle that was always laid out for Caliborn. The plastic bottle was lying carefully next the edge of the wall, on the end where the sidewalk was.

I strolled down the concrete path with confidence. It took a solid minute before I had reached the duo. As I passed them I adjusted the straps on my backpack, which in turn intentionally caused my elbow to come in contact with the plastic bottle. I hear a gasp escape Clover as he and Snowman watched the contents hit the ground. The sound of plastic crunching was made clear and I quickly faked a look of guilt.

I rubbed the back of my head and gave a weak laugh before picking up the bottle. "Sorry, it's probably ruined now." I examined the bottle, it was in alright condition minus the dent it had gained. I glanced up at the two who were sharing a glance. I extended the arm with the false soda, offering it with a innocent look. "Here, you can have mine. It's not exactly cold, but better than nothing, right?"

Snowman nodded as she reached for the soda, she gave me a suspicious look but said nothing as she located the bottle beside of Clover. Clover grinned eagerly at the quick solution before going back to his conversation with the senior about a recent activity that had involved him and Crowbar. I absconded towards a tree that was located fifteen feet away from the wall and sat down at the base of it's trunk.

I pulled out my phone once more, I begun to text Jade through pesterchum. I informed her that I would be in the courtyard because of some business I needed to attend to. She highly implied that she was greatly curious as to what I was going, so I caved since the anticipation was killing me. The second I had sent her a message of what I had done, she immediately began to (as politely as I can put it) completely flip her shit. I ignored her warnings and threats to have me go to the cafeteria that very moment before anything could happen. I simply told her that this was an opportunity that I couldn't pass up, not after what he had done to Dave. I then proceeded to tune out the sound of my phone vibrating and alerting me of my cousins messages.

Caliborn was now sitting on top of the concrete wall, legs crossed as he loudly complained to Quartz about how troublesome his sister had been. I couldn't resist the urge to allow a smug look to appear on my face. I waited eagerly for the teen to take a sip from his drink. I hadn't needed to wait long, as the boy snatched the drink away from Clover's presence; he barked at Snowman for allowing his drink to get warm as he unscrewed the lid.

It's hard to believe that the Felt would allow someone like that to rule the group. It wasn't like he was very special, he was one of the shortest people out of the group. The only thing remarkable about him was his mouth and how he could go on and on at the volume he naturally spoke in. Snowman or Crowbar would probably be more suited for the job. I shook my head and chuckled at my thoughts. Why am I analyzing ways for this ridiculous group to get better? Cause that's all we need, is an organized gang taking over the school. I leaned against the tree and awaited the results that were soon to come as Caliborn poured the warm liquid down his throat.

The chilled air was filled with a high pitch squeal of disgust as the grumpy teen tossed the contents onto the ground spitting out all the remaining contents in his mouth. "Snowball, what the absolute fucking hell! ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL ME YOU WORTHLESS SHIT?" The shouting student slid from his seat and took a few steps towards the older woman.

The lady is question remained calm and she fully understood the situation. "Caliborn, I am not your enemy." Her voice sounded that of a mother trying to calm a young toddler who is throwing a fit. "A boy spilled your drink earlier, and provided a new one. Obviously he gave you a tampered one."

"Who. Was. It." The young boy growled as he tapped his foot waiting for an answer.

Snowman pointed a thumb towards my direction, obviously not caring about what was to happen next (nor having any sympathy towards Caliborn's misfortune). The furious boy stomped over to wear I was sitting. I barely had enough time to get to my feet before Caliborn threw a punch at me.

I easily dodge, as his angry hindered his ability to fight properly. This seemed to infuriate him even more as he once again moved his fist directly towards me, this time aiming towards my stomach. As the sharp pain entered my body,

I did a doubletake and my head was filled with the words of my father.

Remember John, If you ever get if get into a fight you need to live by these rules. 1. You have to prove you are a gentleman by not allowing yourself to throw the first punch (unless you are protecting someone). 2. After the other person throws the first punch, make sure you hit them back twice as hard.

I will admit, my father is an odd man, always telling Jane and I things that will help us "grow up." While normally it's nonsense stuff, like inheriting hand-me-down's or breaking objects to show our anger. It was time's like this that I am thankful my father taught me to stand up for what I thought was right.

I straightened out my position and steadied my stance. I looked behind Caliborn to look at the Felt, luckily none of the others had decided to participate on the action. My attention was once again given to Caliborn, who was preoccupied growling in my face.I took my brief opportunity of his weak defenses to throw my fist at him full force.

I felt a crunch across my knuckles, but knew it wasn't my hand that was hurt. I had connected my knuckles across his cheek. Caliborn collapsed to the ground, fully conscious. The infuriated teen leaned over towards his right and spat droplets of blood onto the ground. He finally managed to get a bloody tooth out from his mouth.

During my distraction of watching Caliborn, I had failed to notice a person come up behind me. I only realized this once Caliborn yelled in a harsh tone for the henchman to do his job. The last thing I remembered was feeling a sharp pain to the back of my skull before welcoming myself into the darkness.

* * *

_I lifted my head and observed the room I was in. It was a large room coated with blue walls and having toys scattered all around the floor. I looked down once more and saw that I saw that my tiny hands were gripping onto one of Jane's dolls that she had given to me. I was indifferent over the toy, and decided to find a new source of entertainment._

_"Mama? Maaaaaamaaaaaaa." My high pitched voice echoed through the door and down the long hallway. I rose from my knees and walked down the wooden area. The cream colored doors stood tall, all but one other door was closed._

_The door was left ajar at the end of the hall, I recognized it immediately as my mother's room and smiled eagerly as I sprinted towards her room. I stopped abruptly at the door the moment I heard sniffling. I peered in and saw my mother slouched over the side of her bed._

_Alarms blared in my head telling me to go over towards her and I didn't think twice. I essentially tip toed towards her, as to not disturb her. Once I was safely at her knees, I placed a hand onto her knee._

_A gasp escaped her as she jumped at my touch. Her blue eyes were tear filled and her cheeks were flushed. I gave her a weak smile and patted her knee, "It's okay Mama." My mother pulled me into a tight hug, and I returned the embrace. I was use to this as it was a weekly occurrence. I wrapped my arms around her as tightly as I could._

_"Thank you, John. You make mommy feel very happy when she's sad." A few strings were pulled at my heart as I grew upset that my mother still would not tell me what the problem was._

_I pulled away from her touch, just enough so that she could look me in the eye. "Mama, I'm gonna make the bad people go away." She gave me a puzzled look, and I gave her one of my famous smiles. "People make you sad, and I don't like it." I lifted my pinkie finger to up to her face, "I promise to protect you."_

_Mama gave me a frail smile as she did her end of the pinkie promise. She ruffled my hair with one hand as she wiped away a few remaining tears. "Thank you, John. You're such a good boy. I can't believe you're already four, my little man."_

_I giggled before a felt a cold breeze hit my back. I looked over my shoulder, only to be greeting with a pitch black hallway, the only light source being fifteen or twenty feet away from another room. Facing forward again towards my mother, I realized she wasn't there anymore._

_Panic arose in my system and I dashed towards the room with the light. With each step that I took, my body seemed to get heavier and hallway seemed to get smaller. Within a minute I had reached the newer room._

_I almost puked as a foul scent violated my nose. The tiled floor was stained red as a pool of crimson led to the bathtub. A suffocating feeling overcame my body as I followed the trail to it's source._

_The wrists of my mother._

* * *

I opened my eyes as I tried to relieve the nauseous feeling from my system. I sat up, a pain in my head reminded me of my recent disagreement.

"Oh, wonderful, you have awakened." A deep voice replied calmly. The smooth voice seemed like a relief from my pounding headache. I looked around the room, and located a short man wearing a green shirt and white pants. He had a shaved head and was searching through some drawers. "How do you feel?"

I rubbed my eye as I tried to focus. "I feel a little sick. How'd I get here?"

The short man examined me as he walked over towards the medical table/bed. "Do you not remember what happened?"

"The last thing I remember is getting into a fight with Caliborn," I murmured.

The man, who I assumed was the school nurse, held one finger in front of my eyes. "That is correct, you were knocked unconscious for ten minutes. Without moving your head, follow my finger, we will be doing a few quick tests before I let you go."

After a series of tests (involving me reciting the alphabet, touch my nose, and stating where we were) the Doc declared that I had a mild concussion. "Take ibuprofen to help with the headaches, follow the instructions on the bottle. Don't sleep for more than two or three hours at a time, and make sure someone wakes you up periodically." The doc pointed towards a door leading outside. "Your friend is waiting on you, he said he'd keep an eye on you till your sister had the both of you signed out to go home."

I gave him a puzzled look and tilted my head. "My friend?" I followed him out the door to where a blonde was sitting. My spirits were lifted to the heavens as I realized that it was Dave. "Oh, hey Dave!"

The blonde looked up, nearly completely hiding his concern. The school nurse relayed what he told me, and informed Dave that the information should be passed to Jane. Once the elder man was back inside his room, Dave looked over at me.

"How are you feeling?"

"Like shit, but I should be fine by tomorrow." I joyfully told my good friend. "So, why are you down here?" Curiosity highly emphasized in my voice.

"Jade called me in a fit of hysteria, saying her dumbass cousin was going to get himself killed by a mad man." Dave chuckled at the thought, but his attitude took that of a serious demeanor. "You're an idiot for trying to fight Caliborn. You're lucky that they didn't break any of your bones."

I changed my attention towards my shoes, not being able to bear looking Dave in the eyes. "I know that; what do you want me to do? Say I'm sorry?" My next words were hardly audible even to me. "Well I can't, because I won't mean it. I'd do it again if they hurt my friends."

I jumped out of my skin when Dave placed his hand onto my shoulder and faint grin painted onto his face. "So it's been you who has been pranking everybody?"

I nodded eagerly, proud of my accomplishment. The two of us shared a laugh as the air seemed less tense.

I watched as he pointed his open hand down towards the hall. "Thought so. Come on, Egderp, let's go find your sister. I need to tell her to make sure she wakes you up." We started to take a few steps down the tiled floors before he added.

"It wouldn't be any fun at the sleepover if you're in a coma, and I sure as hell won't watch Con Air if you're stuck in a hospital."

I rolled my eyes at the taller man, "Oh shut up, Dave. You'll love Con Air, it's practically the best movie of all time."


	11. Chapter 11: Movie Night

Chapter 11: Movie Night

(October 9th)

"This movie fucking sucks!"

I watched as the distraught Egderp slid off the couch.

I tried to warn him. I shook my head with a smirk. I tilted my head back and allowed the last of my apple juice to slide down my throat. I enjoyed the blissful moment as the fruit-filled taste filled my mouth before returning my attention to the pouting adolescent.

"But John, you love this movie!" Jade responded with a confused look before placing a piece of salty popcorn into her mouth.

"I did, but now it just sucks ass," The youngest teen pouted as he crossed his arms.

Jade rolled her eyes at her cousin, "So typical of you. The moment I have an interest in something you like, you begin to hate it." She proceeded to tease the shorter adolescent.

Egderp tilted his head back onto the couch cushion, facepalming himself before slowly dragging his hand down his face. "Why did I ever like this movie?" He groaned loudly.

I smirked towards his direction. "That's what I've been trying to figure out, Egderp."

The younger teen pouted in response, and I was thankful that the room was too dark for him to see my blush at how adorable he was being. I shifted my vision away from Egderp, and observed that Jade has devoured the last of the popcorn and decided to use this as an opportunity to escape.

"Geez, Jade, I take it you like the popcorn," I reached my hand out to grab the metal bowl.

The tanned girl giggled out of embarrassment before giving me the hollow bowl. "Sorry Dave, I must have zoned out when I started to eat it."

"Yeah, yeah, you just don't want to admit that I make good popcorn."

I rose from my seat and headed towards the large kitchen, which was separated from the living room with a wall and a door-size hole in the middle.

As I stepped into the low-lighted room I placed the bowl onto a nearby counter and flipped on the lights. I swiftly grabbed the materials needed to make my homemade popcorn and poured the kernels into a brown bag and placed it into the microwave.

After closing the microwave and hitting start, I turned around and came face to face with my sister. Rose was currently slouched over the island that was located in the middle of the kitchen and had a faint smirk plastered onto her face.

"What is it, Rose." I stood on the opposite side of the island and leaned onto my right hand as my ears were filled with the familiar sounds of the kernels popping.

"Something tells me that you like John," she looked over her shoulder and glanced back into the living room. I leaned over to see what she was looking at.  
Egderp was still sulking on the floor and Jade was doing her best to cheer him up, while simultaneously teasing the teen. Off to the side, our third and last guest to join, Kanaya, was scanning the film collect we kept beside the television.

Turning my attention back to my younger twin, I finally decided to respond. "He's a cool friend."

Rose rolled her eyes, "That is not what I mean, Dave."

I shrugged my shoulders at her, "Then I don't know what you're talking about."

She laughed lightly before getting a serious face, she spoke in a whispered tone so that no eavesdroppers could hear. "What I am talking about, is that you  
were obviously blushing when John pouted." She glanced up at the ceiling briefly as I internally groaned. "Well, 'obviously' might be an exaggeration. I only noticed it because your eyebrows rose up when you saw his face."

I rubbed the side of my head before sighing deeply, I joined her in speaking in a more hushed voice, "That doesn't mean a thing."

"Of course it doesn't." Rose's sarcasm was quite obvious.

I removed my sunglasses from my face, allowing my crimson eyes to stare into her pinkish-purple eyes. "Rose, I swear, I don't like Egderp in any way that could be deemed romantic." And with that, I fixed my glasses to once again rest on my face.

"Whatever you say, Dave," she once again glanced over her shoulder before looking at me. "Besides, John does not even 'swing that way' as you would put it."

I furrowed my eyebrows as I looked at my sister, "What do you mean?"

"What I mean, Dave, is that John has informed me that he is not a homosexual." Rose used her right hand and did a small circle as she continued,  
"Therefore, even if you did have feelings for him, John would be unable to reciprocate your feelings." She stated plainly, not even sugarcoating her words.

I felt butterflies in my stomach, and my heart drop as I processed the words Rose had said. Why does it even matter? We already established that I didn't like Egbert in that way, so I shouldn't care if I could never date him.

Before I could go any deeper into my thoughts, I was pulled back into reality as the microwave beeped three times consecutively to let me know that the kernels were done. I turned around to face the microwave and began to finish preparing the movie snack. As I prepped the salty treat I sighed before continuing my conversation.

"That's good to know. At least we know that Egderp and I are on the same page." I informed her as I poured melted butter onto the popcorn.

"Yes, that is good to know. There is only one problem," she added as she snagged a piece of the finished popcorn.

"And what would that be, madam?"

"The two of you are on the same page, the only issue is that you're also both on the wrong page." She stated as she started to exit the room.

"And what's that expose to mean?" I eyed her suspiciously as I exited the room right behind her.

"You will see soon enough." She once again smirked before joining Kanaya on selecting a movie to watch.

As my sister and her girlfriend bickered on either watching Mr. Peabody and Sherman or The Devil wears Prada, I decided to join Egderp on the floor. I handed Jade the popcorn bowl and made myself comfortable and decided to check the time, my phone brighten the room significantly as I pulled it out, and I took a mental note that it was around 11:38.

Within the next few minutes everyone was settled either on the couch or the floor, most of us having a blanket and pillow to learn on. With the time getting late, I could see that everyone was beginning to doze off. We weren't even fifteen minutes into Mr. Peabody and Sherman when I felt a small thump hit my left shoulder.

Looking beside me, I realized that Egderp had fallen asleep. I debated on whether or not I should move him, when I heard a quiet "Psst!" behind me. I looked over my shoulder and once again saw my sister. Kanaya was leaning upon her, eyes half open and focused on the film. Beside them, Jade was snoring very quietly and stretch out across the couch.

Focusing back on Rose, she was grinning at me and whispered clearly, "Like I said Strider, you're both on the wrong page."

I rolled my eyes as I took off my glasses for the night. "Oh shut up, Rose." I replied softly enough so to not wake up Egderp or Jade.

Kanaya looked at us, tired and confused, "Rose, darling, what are you talking about?"

I watched as Rose planted a kiss on her girlfriend's head, "Nothing of importance, I'm just teasing Dave; go back to sleep, love."

I stuck my tongue out at her for a brief moment before continuing to watch the film. _What does she know_ anyways?

**A.N. Hehe, long time no see everyone. Since we are in the middle of the school year, I cannot update as often as I would like. But my goal is to at least get one more chapter in before the new year. Happy Holidays! Also, the next few chapters will most likely be short like this one, I do apologize for this. **_  
_


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